Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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260. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the progress being made with the review of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) Act 2011; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35090/22]

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 in my Department, 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. In line with this review, as the Deputy may be aware, my Department has recently issued a Request for Tender for research services to identify the impact of the 2011 Act in terms of custodial sentences and community service, and to examine causes for the continued use of short custodial sentences of 12 months or less, and the possible under-utilisation of community service orders.

This research is intended to explore both existing literature on this topic and the views of the judiciary on the use of the 2011 Act. This research will contribute to the high level group’s ongoing work to review policy options for prison and penal reform.

In line with Justice Plan 2022, I will shortly publish the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform 2022-2024.