Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Byrne for bringing up such an important issue. On behalf of the Minister, I want to underline the importance of the commitment to progressing and implementing policies aimed at increasing the use of community sanctions that reduce offending, divert people away from imprisonment and provide effective rehabilitation. That is something we are working on.

On 6 May 2025, the Minister published the general scheme of the Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025, which proposes to increase the maximum number of hours that can be imposed under a community service order from 240 to 480 hours. The amendment will also require a judge to consider a community service order for sentences of up to two years rather than the current one-year requirement. That is also being looked at. I am sure Senator Byrne is aware of that.

The Bill further includes a range of measures that will bring welcome changes across a range of areas, including bolstering censoring options to reduce reliance on custodial sentences.

In budget 2025, the Probation Service received an additional €4 million, bringing its total budget to more than €60 million. This is all important. I thank Senator Byrne for highlighting the issue. I assure him that the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, and his team are very much committed to delivering on these issues. They also see the urgent need to do that.