Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for the confusion. We had the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, in the House an hour ago. I am delighted the Minister, Deputy Flanagan is in the House to take this legislation on behalf of the Government. I have spoken to the Minister about restorative justice, community courts and the principle of spent and expunged convictions. I have taken account of the work that has taken place and I note what has been said about the first spent convictions legislation that was passed three years ago. I am on record as stating at the time that it did not go far enough. I genuinely believed that at the time. As an extension of that, I believe this legislation is timely. Other people took a different view from me on the previous legislation and a period of time was needed for it to bed down and to see how it would work. I was convinced that my view at that stage was correct and during the intervening period of more than 36 months, that view has been confirmed.

I brought forward a Private Members' Bill on restorative justice during the previous term. I had seen what good work had been done in terms of restorative justice in Tallaght, south Dublin and north Tipperary under a former judge, the late Michael Reilly.People who engaged with restorative justice programmes were 65% to 70% less likely to re-offend. This proves that when the system engages with people, and treats them with respect and dignity, it cascades back in a very significant way. There are, unfortunately, always those cases where that does not happen and perhaps those situations require an even more intensive intervention to see if it can happen.

I also brought forward a Private Members' motion on community courts based on what had happened in New York. Community courts there, especially in the Times Square area, have proven to be extremely successful. It shows what can happen when all the State agencies are brought together in a spirit of assistance as opposed to a spirit of legality. The success of the community courts system in other parts of the world demonstrates that it could work in Dublin. In the Minister's own good time, perhaps at a later date, he might let us know how the proposed pilot project of a community court for the centre of Dublin city is progressing. I have spoken to the Minister about this and I am aware that he has a keen interest in it. This legislation would be in that vein, giving people a second chance with the whole restorative community embracing spirit. This legislation is an incremental step in the right direction.

I put it to the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, that if the Government has particular concerns they can be discussed on Committee Stage. I have no doubt that there is a lot of support within the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party for what this Bill is trying to achieve, and for seeing the Bill passed into law, which is what we in the Seanad ultimately want to do. We would hope that our colleagues in Dáil Éireann would then bring it forward from there. At this initial stage of the Bill I commend Senator Ruane and I assure her of my personal support in what she hopes to achieve. Where I can influence or articulate a viewpoint with regard to a narrative I would be very happy to do so.