THE GOVERNMENT is to engage in a lengthy public consultation process and produce a White Paper on more effectively tackling crime, punishment and rehabilitation.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said following a decade of major legislative reform and unprecedented investment in the criminal justice system it was time to examine if new and better ways could be found to tackle the crime-related challenges facing the country.
Mr Ahern said the scope of consultation would be broad, taking two years to complete Ireland’s first White Paper on crime.
It would involve community organisations, public agencies, gardaí, social scientists, criminologists and members of the media.
“It will provide an opportunity to stand back and take stock of what has been achieved to date, to listen to the experience of ordinary people and communities and to learn from the insight of those closely involved in dealing with crime and its consequences,” he said.
The consultation on which the White Paper will be based would generate new ideas on a range of issues such as crime prevention and early intervention.
He was particularly interested in looking at restorative justice programmes and punishments that could be used as an alternative to imprisonment.
The role of victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system would also be reviewed as would the implications of changing technologies.
Mr Ahern was also interested in examining the long-mooted tagging of offenders to free space in the prison system, which he said was now full. He had been in Norway recently and had examined that country’s tagging system.
He said he had looked at the experiences of other EU countries and found that “Ireland is more advanced in our thought processes about issues to do with electronic tagging and in relation to mobile phone blocking technology” in prisons. He added Ireland was now advising other countries on tagging and phone-signal-blocking technology.
Mr Ahern made his comments despite Ireland having no tagging system in place and despite having only a pilot technology project in jails to block mobile phone signals.
He said while the Garda had enjoyed very considerable success against those involved in the drugs trade it was important not to lose sight of other problems that affected a great many people.
“The emphasis on gangland crime . . . may in the future lead to perhaps less attention being paid to a lot of crime that ordinary people in my constituency are crying out about on a daily basis; and that is the issue of petty crime.”
The fight against crime on a daily basis would not be undermined by the White Paper process, he said.
“But that [need to fight crime constantly] to a certain extent diverts us from looking at how we can build on policy, how can we change policy in order to address the fears and concerns of ordinary people.” He said the jails were full because there were now more gardaí than ever and because the force had been so effective. Some 400 new prison spaces were being added to three jails over the next six months and this would alleviate current overcrowding.
In the longer term he believed the State’s first super prison – Thornton Hall in north county Dublin – would permanently address overcrowding.
That PPP project should now be half way through construction but contract negotiations with the preferred consortium have stalled. Mr Ahern was unable to say when the contract would be signed off and construction begun.
“Obviously in the circumstances of the present financial situation . . . the whole issue of the availability of finance, it has to be said, is a difficulty.”