Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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594. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when the planned review of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) Act 2011 will take place. [17575/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Non-custodial penalties, particularly supervised community sanctions, play a significant and important role in addressing criminality, reducing reoffending and providing a degree of protection to the public. This is supported by Central Statistics Office figures on recidivism.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Programme for Government 2020 contains a broad range of policies and proposals that represent a coherent approach to enhancing and sustaining a more just and safe society with a specific commitment to review policy options for prison and penal reform.

In September 2020, I established a high level working group including the Head of Criminal Justice Policy, the Director-General of the Irish Prison Service and the Director of the Probation Service to take forward the Government’s commitment to review policy options for prison and penal reform.

The review is considering commitments and on-going developments across the justice sector and beyond, including those outlined in a number of relevant strategies. The completion of the review of the Community Service (Amendment) Act 2011 and the use of short custodial sentences forms part of the high level group’s ongoing work to review policy options for prison and penal reform.

In line with Justice Plan 2022, I intend to publish the Action Plan for Penal Reform in the coming weeks.