Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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1451. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the one year post release re-offending rates for prisoners and those in custody, broken down by those aged under 18; aged 18-24; 25 to 34-34 to 50; 50 -64; 65 and over, by gender, in each of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44489/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I am advised by An Garda Síochána that the information requested by the Deputy is not available in the format requested.

However, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) regularly publishes detailed statistical information on both prison and probation re-offending rates. The latest available study of one- and three-year prison re-offending rates can be found in the Prison Re-offending Statistics 2021 report which was published on www.cso.ie/ in October of last year.

The prison re-offending statistics measure the level of recorded re-offending by offenders, including by gender and age group, who received a custodial sentence following their release from prison.

The one-year re-offending rate indicates the percentage of people who were convicted for a crime incident that was recorded within one year of their release, with a further year set as the time limit for the court outcome to take place.

One-year prison re-offending rates for individuals released in 2021 indicate that 42% re-offended within a year after being released from custody, a rise of 1%, with the highest re-offending category being people convicted of burglary.

Overall, there has been a reduction in one-year prison re-offending of 12% since 2011.

Probation Re-offending Statistics for 2020, which were published in November last year, showed that just over one-quarter (27%) of offenders who received a probation order in 2020 re-offended within a year, a rise of 2% when compared with the equivalent rate for 2019 (25%).

However, this was the second lowest re-offending rate measured since 2008, when the first estimates of probation re-offending were calculated, and was mostly due to a rise in the re-offending of people who received probation for offences relating to controlled drug- (23%) or road traffic- (22%) related offences.

I can assure the Deputy that this Government remains focused on reducing re-offending, including by diverting people, where appropriate, from the criminal justice system and ensuring the underlying causes of offending behaviour are addressed.

A range of policies have been developed to achieve this, including the Review of Policy Options for Prison and Penal Reform, which includes increasing the use of alternatives to custodial sanctions where appropriate, and the recommendations of the High-Level Taskforce to consider the mental health and addiction challenges of those who come into contact with the criminal justice sector.

The provision of education and training is available in all prisons and the Irish Prison Service provides supports and services from basic literacy and numeracy education, up to third level qualifications.

Work Training in prisons also provides a range of purposeful activities in areas such as catering, laundry, industrial cleaning and industrial skills.

Further, the Prison Education Taskforce has the aim of ensuring greater alignment between prison education and work training and the tertiary education system to support prisoners in benefitting from education and training opportunities while in custody to support their rehabilitation and access to employment post-release.

In Budget 2025, the Probation Service received an additional €4m, bringing the total budget to over €60m to expand crime-diversion programmes, support step-down facilities, restorative justice, and community-based alternatives to imprisonment.

In November 2024, the Department of Justice launched ‘Building Pathways Together: Criminal Justice Reintegration Through Employment Strategy 2025-2027’, building on the strong foundations laid by the 2017 Social Enterprise strategy ‘A New Way Forward’, and the 2020 ‘Working to Change’ strategy.

This new strategy seeks to provide effective interventions to ensure that those who have ceased offending, and those who are looking for stability to move away from a life which involves offending, have the appropriate supports and opportunities open to them.