Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

When the victims of crime and their families are interviewed on their way out of court - this generally happens in cases of far more serious crimes - one seldom hears them expressing satisfaction with the end process. Regardless of how well-intentioned the court process is, in most cases neither the perpetrator nor the victim is terribly satisfied with how justice is administered. I join others in congratulating Senator Conway for tabling this interesting motion, which I am addressing on behalf of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Shatter. He cannot be here this evening, unfortunately, because he is in Brussels this week in his capacity as Minister for Justice and Equality. He sends his best regards. He has a deep interest in this area.

Restorative justice is a system of criminal justice that focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large. It uses processes that bring those harmed by crime or conflict, and those responsible for the harm, into communication with one another. It enables everyone who is affected by an incident to play a part in repairing the harm and finding a positive way forward. In welcoming the opportunity to discuss the motion and listen to the contributions being made, I particularly thank the Senator who tabled this motion for his support of important victim-sensitive measures within the criminal justice system. There have been differing interpretations of the evolving concept of restorative justice. We do not always find perfect consensus with regard to it. We should base our development of this form of criminal justice on the definition arrived at by the National Commission on Restorative Justice, which operated between 2007 and 2009. The definition provides that "restorative justice is a victim-sensitive response to criminal offending, which, through engagement with those affected by crime, aims to make amends for the harm that has been caused to victims and communities and which facilitates offender rehabilitation and integration into society".

The Minister intends to develop and extend restorative justice practices to the greatest extent possible and offer them as a nationwide non-custodial option in the criminal justice system. The provision of restorative justice practices is a priority for the Probation Service. The restorative principles of admitting and repairing the harm done to the victim and to society by offending behaviour are central to the concept of community service, with which we are already familiar and which the Probation Service delivers so well. They also form a key part of the community return initiative, which was established more recently. Both schemes operate primarily from a reparative model. They require offenders to address the indirect harm to the community caused by their offences by performing unpaid supervised work benefiting that community. Under the community return initiative, prisoners who have already served a custodial sentence are given the structure and the opportunity to engage in restorative practices and avail of the rehabilitative effect of repairing some of the harm they have done and reintegrating into society.

The Probation Service is drafting an integrated restorative justice strategy which will set out a series of actions to be driven by the service in collaboration with its partners. The aim of the strategy is to bring about greater availability and integration of restorative practices at various stages of the criminal justice process in respect of adult offenders. The strategy is intended to include actions that will facilitate the expanding and strengthening of capacity to ensure high-quality restorative justice projects and services are provided. It will also provide for the greater use of restorative practices in the overall assessment and supervision of offenders referred to the Probation Service and partner agencies. If restorative justice practices are to be more widely used, the Probation Service will build awareness and confidence among criminal justice professionals and the general public, helping them to understand that a restorative justice intervention is a viable sanction which can provide benefits for all stakeholders. It is also the intention of the Probation Service to ensure the quality of service provided by restorative justice interventions is consistently high and is in line with agreed restorative practice standards.

In all of its interventions, the Probation Service intends to provide for more inclusive victim-sensitive services, thereby extending the reach of restorative methods. Community members and volunteers will need to have an increased role if this is to happen. The Probation Service works with and within communities to provide services to offenders. Despite our difficult economic circumstances and the ever-increasing pressures on limited resources, the Minister continues to ensure a large proportion of the Probation Service's overall budget is available to fund community-based organisations that are dedicated to the delivery of these services and help them in achieving their strategic objectives. In working with adult offenders, restorative justice has the potential to break the destructive pattern of behaviour of those who offend by challenging them to confront the full extent of the emotional and physical harm they have caused to their victims. As a way of responding to offending behaviour, it balances the needs of the victim, the offender and the community by providing a real and meaningful opportunity to engage in a process where the victims' perspective is considered and represented.

Restorative justice also offers a process whereby offenders take responsibility for their actions and the harm caused by their behaviour to the victim and to society, and commit to making some reparation. This allows the circumstances and factors leading to the offending to be addressed and, very important, allows the community an opportunity to bring its constituent members together for purposeful, solution-focused intervention.

The probation and welfare service, in partnership with community-based organisations and some of its statutory partners, currently delivers a number of restorative justice programmes and interventions. This includes restorative justice projects available to a number of the District Courts in Dublin and the midlands, as well as dedicated restorative justice responses to youth offending through delivery of family conferencing, under the Children Act 2001, and the recently established restorative justice pilot project in Limerick.

Restorative justice practices are in place for juvenile offenders through the provisions of the Children Act 2001, and the Minister is committed to extending such practices to work with adults. It is also worth recalling that restorative justice practices in Northern Ireland are well established, having been formally developed between 1995 and 2004. Flexibility of practice is perceived by Northern Ireland practitioners as the best manner by which to achieve the aims of restorative justice, which are as follows: "to reflect best practice", "[ensure] that victimisation does not occur" and "[ensure]that all parties (victim, offender and community) come away as satisfied as possible with the outcome". In that regard, both the probation and welfare service and the Irish Prison Service are involved with the Restorative Justice Forum of Northern Ireland in planning an all-island event on restorative practices to coincide with international restorative justice week in November 2013. This is yet another welcome example of North-South co-operation, where learning, expertise and experience is shared by key practitioners.

Turning to the directive of the European Parliament and European Council establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, Ireland took a positive approach to the draft directive in the negotiations in the Council working party, at the JHA Council and during the trilogues with the European Parliament. For his part, the Minister, Deputy Shatter, ensured that the enactment of legislation giving rights to victims was a key commitment in the programme for Government.

The victims directive includes a range of provisions for victims to protect them from secondary victimisation and intimidation in the event that restorative justice services are offered. These protections include the requirement that any victim involvement in restorative processes is subject to free and informed consent, which may be withdrawn at any time. The victim should also be provided with full information about the process, possible outcomes and the methods used to supervise the implementation of any agreement reached. In addition, the victims directive requires that any agreement which involves the victim is concluded on a voluntary basis. The directive ensures that the legitimate concerns of the victim are taken into account, where the victim is included in the restorative process. These victim concerns must be addressed, while acknowledging the equally legitimate efforts to rehabilitate offenders.

The Minister, Deputy Shatter, has long held a deep interest in the needs of victims in the Irish criminal justice system. In 2002 and again in 2008, he tabled a Victims' Rights Bill while in opposition. As further evidence of his commitment to protecting those who find themselves to be the victim of a crime, the Minister has ensured the budget for 2013 for the Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime was maintained. The Minister has already instructed officials to begin preparatory work with a view to transposing the directive into Irish law. The final date for transposition of the directive is 16 November 2015.

The House can be assured that the Government is resolute in its commitment to further develop and expand the restorative justice process throughout the State. We must and will continue to do everything we can to ensure its potential as a non-custodial option available to the criminal justice system is explored to the fullest extent possible. Similarly, the Government is committed to ensuring that provision is made for victims to receive appropriate information, supports and protection, where they are called on to engage in restorative processes.

I commend the motion to the House and thank the Senators for putting it forward. It is an example of the freedom that is available in this setting, which is not available in others.