New Government plan will increase meetings between criminals and their victims
THE GOVERNMENT WANTS to massively increase the number of meetings between criminals and the victims of their crimes in a bid to repair the harm caused by offenders.
Fewer than
1% of court cases in 2019
were referred to
restorative justice
programmes, where offenders and victims meet face-to-face alongside trained professionals.
The meetings typically let the victim talk about the impact the crime had on them and get answers to questions they may have.
New targets have now been set out by the Probation Service seeking to increase the number of cases referred by the courts by 10% every year for three years, in the hope that restorative justice can be woven into the justice system.
Welcoming the new targets, assistant professor in criminology at Maynooth University Dr Ian Marder said investment must be increased in order to make the service available to all who might benefit.
'These targets are achievable, but we're starting from a very low baseline,' Marder said.
Pointing to
his own research
, Marder said the state is 'barely scratching the surface of the potential of restorative justice'. He said fewer than 400 cases were referred to the programmes in 2023, despite over 320,000 cases going through the courts.
Based on those figures, as data from 2024 has yet to be published, the Probation Service could see just under 1,500 cases referred to them for restorative justice programmes between 2025 and 2027.
The Programme for Government includes a commitment to continuing the rollout of the restorative justice programme in communities nationwide, Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan
recently told the Dáil
.
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He cited an additional €4m in funding allocated to the Probation Service in Budget 2025 which, among other things, will support services such as restorative justice.
Marder told
The Journal
: 'It is really important to increase referrals to restorative justice because most people affected by crime are still not being offered the chance to participate, even where services exist.'
Sinn Féin's TD Matt Carthy told
The Journal
: 'In the broadest terms, I welcome the publication of the action plan and that it's seen that the Probation Service is taking seriously its commitments to restorative justice.'
The party's justice spokesperson said he hopes the 10% increase is 'not seen as the upper limit' to what can be achieved by the Probation Service in the plan.
Carthy added that the government should continue to provide additional funding to the service but stressed that it should be underpinned by increased investments for community-based organisation facilitating the practice.
The two-year action plan seeks to increase interventions by 10% and start an upskilling and training drive. Potentially suitable cases are referred to the Probation Service's Restorative Justice and Victim Services Unit, probation officers and independent third parties.
Many victims or people impacted by crime are often unaware that restorative justice programmes are available to them through the courts service. Referrals must be made by judges or gardaí.
There are no immediate plans to recruit additional staff in the sector, with the action plan confident that capacity can withstand potential increases in referrals if partnered with sufficient training.
Marder said some organisations have recruited one or two members of additional staff following
a funding injection last year
. He suggested that any additional funding in the action plan may seek to expand services into different counties.
'Again, the problem is that the starting point is very low,' he said. 'So we need to see the investment increase by many multiples before restorative justice will be accessible by everyone who might benefit.'
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The Journal
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- The Journal
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Articles like this one brings you clarity, transparency and balance so you can make well-informed decisions. We set up FactCheck in 2016 to proactively expose false or misleading information, but to continue to deliver on this mission we need your support. Over 5,000 readers like you support us. If you can, please consider setting up a monthly payment or making a once-off donation to keep news free to everyone. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Times
8 hours ago
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The Dublin riots in November 2023 were fuelled by a deluge of speculation about the identity and motive of the man who carried out a knife attack at a school near Parnell Square. The Southport riots last year in England followed the same grim pattern, when far-right groups seized on speculation about the identity and motive of the man who fatally stabbed three children. Both instances were preceded by hours of silence from police and officialdom, which created an information vacuum in which speculation and conspiracy theories were able to take hold. On each occasion, speculation dampened much more quickly after both police forces provided additional information about the background of the perpetrators. Not only did this have the effect of preventing information contagion around one of the biggest news events of the year, it also made bad actors on social media look like fools for speculating so freely. The strategy denied bad actors the ability to hijack the narrative and acknowledged a basic truth about modern social media: in the absence of facts, fiction will flourish. But although it worked this time around, it's a tricky strategy that's not without its downsides. Several far-right accounts online accused Gardaí and Merseyside Police of being 'too quick' to say that the suspects in Carlow and Liverpool were white locals, with the implication that this was an act of political messaging rather than public clarity. The next time a similar major incident occurs and Gardaí or British police don't — or can't — release identifying information about the suspect(s), it's easy to see how the decision not to do so will be seized upon. The public may take the lack of information as confirmation that the suspect is foreign or non-white, and may end up believing bad actors or others who are speculating about what has happened. Related Reads Man who fired shots in Carlow shopping centre named locally as 22-year-old Evan Fitzgerald Former head of Counter Terrorism for the UK, Neil Basu told the News Agents podcast that transparency is needed for police to respond in the age of social media. 'The best position policing can come to is a standard position where they give the maximum amount of information they can,' he said. 'I think what was more important in Southport was the allegations of cover-up, as though people were trying to suppress something.' This is exactly what played out in Carlow before gardaí issued their series of statements: people online suggested that the gunman's body was being covered for nefarious reasons, rather than the operational issues that are usually present in such cases. At its core, the issue is more of a problem with online platforms than with the police. Gardaí and police in the UK are simply reacting to the situation created by social media companies, who allow false claims to spread unchecked in the moments after a crisis. Large social media platforms, not police, are ultimately responsible for hosting unreliable accounts that can present themselves as media outlets or pay for verification on a platform like X, which enables them to appear more credible than they are. It is easy to see how misinformation takes hold when paid-for but unreliable accounts frame speculation and misinformation through the language of legitimate journalists, claiming they have received 'tips', 'unconfirmed reports' or information from 'sources'. It's a process that works for both bad-faith actors and social media companies themselves: they get the engagement through outrage and amplification, but if they're wrong, they can simply say they were 'just sharing' what they heard. As real events become overlaid with imaginary details, the truth has to play a constant game of catch-up. For police and state bodies, the problem is a difficult choice: leave the void that bad actors will inevitably fill, or provide information early and risk politicising every statement. That choice will continue until social media platforms are forced to reckon with the role they play — and until meaningful disincentives exist for those who weaponise misinformation. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... It is vital that we surface facts from noise. Articles like this one brings you clarity, transparency and balance so you can make well-informed decisions. We set up FactCheck in 2016 to proactively expose false or misleading information, but to continue to deliver on this mission we need your support. Over 5,000 readers like you support us. If you can, please consider setting up a monthly payment or making a once-off donation to keep news free to everyone. Learn More Support The Journal
