Seanad debates

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

3:55 pm

Photo of Martin ConwayMartin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Similarly, all Members are aware that the Minister probably has immediately pressing matters with which he is dealing expeditiously and efficiently and, I am sure, to the satisfaction of most. That said, in his absence, the Minister of State is eminently appropriate because he is familiar with city life, as well as the challenges faced. Moreover, he is aware of how people can fall into the wrong company and that many first or second and third offences for which people are convicted can be as a result of falling into the wrong company.

The concept of community courts was born in 1993 in New York City, where people were dealing with a situation in which Times Square effectively was a no-go area. Similarly, large parts of the city, particularly in Manhattan, as well as parks, Grand Central Station and other locations with which all Members are familiar and which they tend to love when they visit New York were also no-go areas. A decision was made at the time that there was a need to consider doing business in a different way and investigate alternative methods of justice. To the best of my knowledge, the concept of community courts was born in that part of New York. It spread to other parts of the world and now operates successfully in Canada, numerous cities in the United States, New Zealand and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom. However, each jurisdiction is different and the results depend on the resources made available and the engagement and willingness to make it happen.

At the end of January I had the privilege of attending a function on St. Stephen's Green organised by the Dublin City Business Association, to which it had invited people who had been involved in the New York experience to share their experiences.

I was delighted that eminent persons such as the then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Oisín Quinn, and hundreds of people from the legal and business professions had attended a half-day seminar on the concept of community courts. It was followed in the afternoon by a sitting of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality which heard testimonials from the eminent people from New York who attended the function. Representatives of the Law Society of Ireland, Blackhall Place, also attended and gave their views on the concept. What was even more striking about that session was that the Minister for Justice and Equality sat in as an observer. That is the seriousness with which he is taking the need to do business in this area differently. The day ended with a very successful meal in Leinster House which was attended by stakeholders and people such as Judge Michael Reilly who had been promoting this concept for many years. To quote the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, there is now a fair wind behind the concept of community courts.

The community court I want to see established as a pilot project is what was recommended in a report produced in 2007 by the National Crime Council which had carried out extensive research on the concept. It made several recommendations, one of which was that a pilot community court be established in Dublin city centre adjacent to the Sheriff Street and Pearse Street Garda divisional districts. It is an exceptionally good idea. It would be a community court that would look at alternatives to sending people to prison. It would be co-located alongside professionals who deal with anger management problems, drug and alcohol addictions, community employment and welfare issues, family disputes, parenting courses and so on. Effectively, the community court would be part of an overall one-stop-shop to ensure people who found themselves before the courts would have immediate remedies. The notion behind community courts is that in the case of offences such as assault, petty crime, prostitution, shop-lifting and so on, we would examine an alternative concept and way of doing business.

In many cases, people fall into the wrong company as a result of being in the wrong environment. To a large extent, it is because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. They deserve a second chance in our society. They deserve to have the vehicles of State that are willing to help engage with them at an early stage. All of us talk about early interventions, whether in medicine or education, but early interventions in the area of justice are equally as important. When somebody finds himelf or herself at the wrong end of the law, he or she should be brought into a court within his or her community that is a fabric of his or her community to come up with common-sense community responses in terms of remediation to get him or her back in action, so to speak. That is an essential element of what should be our future justice system, coupled with restorative justice, an issue we have debated in the House and on which we unanimously agreed a motion. Where restorative justice practices are in place on a pilot basis, there has been a dramatic fall in the numbers of second and follow-on offences. Community courts would have an equally successful outcome if the pilot programme were to go ahead.

The motion is timely because there is a fair wind behind this concept.

Will the Minister for Justice and Equality set up an implementation panel immediately as recommended in the 2007 report? In six or 12 months time when all of the stakeholders, including the Judiciary, the District Court, the Law Society and those involved in various addiction treatments, have been properly consulted, we should set up a community court on a pilot basis in Dublin city centre. This Minister and Government are committed to alternative and better ways of doing business. Community courts are a better way to do business. The whole notion of lock them up and throw away the key is not working. Our prisons are jammed and are simply not working. The Minister is deeply committed to this alternative.

What better way to acknowledge the third anniversary of the 2011 general election than for this motion to be unanimously supported by Seanad Éireann in the hope that before the end of the lifetime of this Government we see a community court in Dublin running successfully? Hopefully, we will then see them rolled out on a regional basis.

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