Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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36. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the status of her Department’s plans for the development of the Drug Treatment Court model; her plans to expand on the existing structure; the number of persons who have participated in the model and the outcomes; the number of recommendations of the report of the penal policy review group which have been implemented; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7622/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Drug Treatment Court is aimed at people with drug addiction problems who come before the District Court on minor criminal charges linked to their drug addiction. It 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. Participants on the programme receive a lot of help and support from the team that supports the Drug Treatment Court including an education coordinator, a liaison nurse among others in dealing with the challenge of tackling their addiction.

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, which is a positive development.

Number of Referrals to Drug Treatment Court

In 2016 there has seen a very significant increase in the numbers of people referred to participate in the Drug Treatment Court Programme. The following table gives an indication as to the comparative numbers since the project commenced.

Current participant numbers and progress

The following table gives an overview of participant numbers at each of the phases over the past 2 years:

While a large number of participants do not achieve a full graduation, many of them succeed in other areas of the programme such as achieving full FETAC certificates and obtaining employment. Also many no longer commit criminal offences and many also reconnect with their families and, in particular, with their children.

Outcomes under the Drug Treatment Court Programme

In the last 12 months, the figures show a significant increase in the numbers being assessed and also in the numbers in the bronze phase. Those who graduate at the gold phase are deemed to be completely clean of all drugs and this attainment level is particularly hard to achieve.

The Penal Policy Review Group was tasked with carrying out a strategic review of penal policy. The Review Group's Report, which I published in September 2014, made 43 recommendations in total. Work is underway to progress the recommendations of the Review Group and to this end I have established a Penal Policy Implementation Oversight Group. The Group is chaired by Dr. Mary Rogan who was a member of the Review Group. I have received two reports to date from this Group setting out the state of implementation of the recommendations. Both of these reports are available to view on my Department's website. A significant number of the recommendations of the Group involve areas of change requiring sustained intervention over a period of time and the implementation of these recommendations is under active 6 monthly review by the Oversight Group led by Dr. Rogan. While three of the recommendations have been fully implemented, significant progress is being made in the vast majority of the remaining recommendations. I expect to receive a further report from this Group in the near future and it is also my intention to publish this report.