Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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575. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality for an update on the Programme for Government commitment to enact legislation to extend the use of community sanctions, in particular increasing the use of community service orders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56654/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I am committed to progressing and implementing policies aimed at increasing the use of community sanctions, that reduce offending, divert people away from imprisonment, and provide effective rehabilitation.

In April 2025, the Community Service - New Directions Implementation Plan 2025-2027 was published. This plan from the Probation Service sets out commitments to drive the delivery and support the increased use of community service as a robust and meaningful alternative to imprisonment. Engagement with the Judiciary, embedding the principles of desistence, restorative justice and social justice, and increasing the visibility and accessibility of community service are part of this plan.

One of the actions identified in the report of the Prison Overcrowding Response Group was to amend legislation to increase the maximum number of hours that can be imposed under a Community Service Order from 240 to 480 hours. The amendment will also require a judge to consider a Community Service Order if a sentence of up to two years is being considered, rather than the current one year requirement. These amendments have been included in the General Scheme of the Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 which was published on 6 May 2025. The Bill also includes a range of measures which will bring changes across a number of areas, bolstering sentencing options to reduce reliance on custodial sentences.

The Programme for Government also commits to introduce electronic tagging for appropriate categories of prisoner. Work is underway to operationalise electronic monitoring (EM) in line with existing legislative provisions. Budget 2026 allocated funding of €2.1m for the project to allow for staffing, procurement, and other set up costs. It is intended to go tender for an EM provider this year.