Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 417: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to monitor implementation of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No.2) Act 2011; the number of times that this has been used across the courts; the number of community service orders used in which the individual would otherwise have received a custodial sentence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35654/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Probation Service of my Department has responsibility for the supervision and management of Community Service Orders in accordance with the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act, 1983 as amended by the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No.2) Act 2011. This work, inter alia, involves providing assessment reports to the Courts and managing the completion of the Orders by offenders. The use of community service orders generally is monitored but the Courts are independent in exercising their functions.

I can provide for comparison purposes the following detail on the numbers of Community Service Orders supervised in 2010 and 2011:

As the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No.2) Act 2011 came into effect on 1 October last, it is not possible to make any real comparison at this stage. The Probation Service is however confident, if current usage trends continue, of a significant increase in the use of community service over and above previous years. The alternative to a Community Service Order is a custodial sentence.