Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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1650. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the annual funding for the bail supervision service from 2019 to date; the number of interventions made by the service for young people and adults over the corresponding time period, in tabular form; the areas in which the service operates; the resulting outcomes of these interventions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21057/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Bail Supervision Scheme offers courts an alternative option to detaining a young person who comes before them. It provides for the possibility of granting bail with intensive supervision.

By reducing the need for remand places, this also provides an opportunity to focus on developing successful community resources designed to prevent young people being detained in a youth justice facility and preventing them from going further down the path of criminality.

The Bail Supervision Scheme currently serves the Children Courts in Dublin, Limerick and Cork (Table 1 below refers). The scheme uses Multisystemic Therapy (MST) to support families of young people, who appear before the court and receive bail with conditions, to adhere to these conditions prior to subsequent court appearances.

Direct contact for all cases is at least two to three in person contacts per week, each for a duration of one to three hours. Outside of this there is support given to attend appointments and Court appearances. The BSS also provides 24/7 on call support service to the families as is part of the MST approach. Therapists meet with families and the young person in their homes and communities. Interventions aim to empower parents/ guardians to ensure their children adhere to their bail conditions while at the same time assisting the young person to engage in education, and with identified community based services.

In 2019, an evaluation of the BSS was published by the then Department of Children and Youth Affairs (Evaluation of the Bail Supervision Scheme for Children (pilot Scheme) The pilot scheme had been based out of the Dublin Children Court and as a result of the positive impact of BSS, as identified in this evaluation, the scheme was expanded to Limerick and Cork Children Courts.

Plans to extend this scheme beyond the three Children Courts it currently serves are being considered. There is currently no bail support scheme for adults in operation.

Table 1 Bail Supervision Scheme 2019 - 2024