Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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105. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she is aware of other jurisdictions developing problem solving courts where judges review the progress of appropriate convicted offenders after sentence with the aim of imposing non-custodial sentences; and the potential for a similar pilot scheme here. [12524/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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While monitoring and certain decisions regarding the management of sanctions is undertaken by members of the Judiciary in some jurisdictions, sentencing courts in this jurisdiction are constrained, following a Supreme Court ruling, on reviewing sentences they have passed. However, as the Deputy will be aware, we have had a dedicated Drug Treatment Court operating in Ireland for some time now. This is a problem solving court and makes an important contribution, not least as an alternative to prison. The Drug Treatment Court operates on the basis that a criminal matter has not proceeded to formal conviction and the presiding Judge reviews matters at each adjournment, frequently over an extended period of time, to assess progress, before the matter before the Court is eventually finalised. The catchment area served by the Drug Treatment Court was significantly expanded in July 2013 to encompass the whole of County Dublin and the programme has also found a way to facilitate participants from outside of Dublin, with participants from Portlaoise and Cork being admitted in 2015.

Apart from the Drug Treatment Court, courts in Ireland place several thousand defendants every year under the supervision of the Probation Service in the community, either without proceeding to conviction or post-conviction. Defendants can be placed on Probation Orders or supervised by Probation Officers during deferment of penalty. Both of these sanctions operate without proceeding to conviction and the defendant can be called back to Court to answer the original matter, if they fail to comply with supervision. Courts also have a number of other sanctions, incorporating supervision in the community by a Probation Officer, available to them as a post-conviction measure. These are Community Service Orders, fully suspended sentences with supervision and part-suspended sentence Supervision Orders and post-release Supervision Orders. Constitutionally, any post-conviction review is not possible.

My Department has led a Working Group of Justice Sector officials to consider options for moving forward on the proposal to establish a Community Court which is a problem-solving court. Building on the recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, the Working Group has been considering proposals to enhance our approach to tackling low level offenders and effectively addressing their offending behaviour through a Community Justice Intervention type programme. This would be a diversion from the courts system and would build on An Garda Síochána's Adult Cautioning Scheme which has the potential to respond more effectively to one-off and repeat, low level offending with the emphasis on speedy processing aimed at reducing the risk of re-offending and would also offer quick referral to the necessary services. Issues such as the format and most appropriate model that would apply to the Irish system are under active consideration in my Department and I anticipate to have more definite details on this initiative in the near future.