Seanad debates

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

4:50 pm

Photo of Trevor Ó ClochartaighTrevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tá áthas orm a bheith in ann tacú leis an moladh seo go gcuirfidh cúirteanna pobal ar bun, cé go bhfuil sé íorónta go bhfuilimid ag iarraidh tuillidh cúirteanna a chur ar bun ag am go bhfuilimid ag dúnadh cúirteanna ar fud na gceantar tuaithe, ach sin scéal do lá eile.

I welcome the advent of community courts. This is a positive and progressive step that places the emphasis on retribution in a community context, as opposed to incarceration and the penal system. Dealing with less serious offences, the community courts model emphasises treatment, understanding and community service. Solicitors and prosecutors remain central throughout the process, although there are opportunities to avoid criminal records and prison in a way that should, in theory, benefit society by reducing repeat offending and educating offenders by making them engage with the community.

In 2007 the National Crime Council, NCC, recommended their introduction, starting with the Dublin pilot. The NCC believes that the community court model would bring a range of benefits to offenders and communities which are not currently available in Ireland. These benefits include: a pre-trial assessment in every case; a wider range of available sanctions; the targeting of underlying issues which may cause offending, such as substance abuse or homelessness, so as to reduce re-offending; an element of restitution to the community in appropriate cases; offenders who comply with the community court avoid a criminal conviction; renewed confidence in the criminal justice system; gains in public safety and perceptions of safety; and swift and visible justice for low level offences. The types of crimes covered could include general public order offences such as intoxication, disorderly conduct, threatening and abusive behaviour, minor assaults, drug use, theft and criminal damage. Services available as solutions would include addiction counselling, education courses, social services, parenting programmes and anger management courses.

Community courts are already in use in Britain, Australia and Canada, as outlined by my colleagues, as well as in the US, where they started over ten years ago. There are approximately 40 such courts in the US. In New York, which has courts in midtown Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem and a fifth one in the course of being established, the system has been credited with reducing the once infamous levels of crime, especially in Manhattan. The Yarra community court in Melbourne, Australia, found that between 2007 and 2009 rates of recidivism dropped by 7%. The system has also been adopted in South Africa and Canada. Community courts are, of course, less costly than traditional courts and they offer a quicker resolution to what is often a once-off offence.

Sinn Féin welcomes this motion. We consider it an important first step in the modernisation of what is a very outdated penal system. We also welcome the move away from the incarceration model. As has been repeatedly highlighted by the United Nations Human Rights Council, UNHRC, the Irish Penal Reform Trust and others, the Irish prison system is in urgent need of reform. Virtually all of our prisons, especially Limerick Prison, Mountjoy Prison and Cork Prison, are not fit for purpose. In such places, prisoners must still slop out, and overcrowding, violence and drug use are endemic. The Dóchas Centre, otherwise known as the women's prison, is also overcrowded, while most of the women there are serving sentences for petty crimes and have serious problems related to addiction, abuse and violence. In spite of this, the services we offer incarcerated men and women for education, health care, drug addiction and mental health are appalling.

I saw just how bad conditions are in our prisons when I recently visited my friend Margaretta D'Arcy in Limerick Prison. Such was the lack of educational resources at the prison that Margaretta, now in her 79th year, took it upon herself to make a public appeal for books for the prison library. Even more shocking is the fact that prisoners are locked up for up to 23 hours per day in a state of virtual isolation. I realise it is not the subject we are discussing today, but I would welcome if the Minister of State made a statement in support of Margaretta D'Arcy and if he would tell the House that he will call for her release. She should not be imprisoned for campaigning on human rights issues. If the community courts system had been in place, I wonder if she would be where she is at present. I trust and hope not. She should not be there anyway.

Educational, sensory and emotional deprivations are the chief characteristics of our penal system. This is not good enough by any standards. If we must lock people up, we must also recognise that such people are human beings with needs and rights. Our prison population is overwhelmingly composed of poor people, mostly young men under the age of 25 years from working class backgrounds. Any initiative that seeks to reduce the number of those in prison is most welcome and makes for a sensible penal policy that is fit for a modern democracy.

Finally, while I and my party support this motion, it is somewhat ironic that while the Minister for Justice and Equality is about to introduce community courts, his colleagues in the Government have slashed the budgets of community youth groups and dismantled the community support infrastructure across Ireland.

Keeping people, especially young people, out of prison and away from the criminal justice system requires a co-ordinated effort across the services. A properly resourced and well-funded community sector is central to that effort.

I cannot let the matter go without noting that the impact of austerity has seen an increase in petty crime. Anybody who goes to or reads the reports prepared by joint policing committees will see that there has been an increase in the number of thefts on the person, thefts from shops, etc. and the incidence of domestic violence. All of that has been linked to increased alcoholism, drinking, anti-social behaviour, etc. and the austerity policies that have been put in place so we cannot have one without the other.

Fáiltíonn Sinn Féin roimh agus tacaíonn muid leis an rún seo. Tá súil againn gur chun feabhais a bheidh an córas ag dul.

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