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Minister Fitzgerald welcomes reports of Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

· Minister Fitzgerald welcomes the publication of three “valuable” justice

reports

· Children and Family Relationships Bill will respond to changing family

needs

· Minister intends to bring forward proposals to establish a pilot

Community Court

10 July 2014

Frances Fitzgerald T.D., Minister for Justice and Equality, today welcomed

the publication by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and

Equality of three reports on its hearings on the General Scheme of the

Children and Family Relationships Bill, the General Scheme of the Criminal

Justice (Community Sanctions) Bill and in respect of Community Courts.

The Minister thanked the Committee for the valuable report it has published

on the General Scheme of the Children and Family Relationships Bill. “This

is a complex Bill which proposes a comprehensive reform of family law in

line with our commitment in the Programme for Government. The Bill

proposes to update Ireland’s family law to respond to the changing needs of

families in Ireland.”

The Minister continued: “We need to get this Bill right. It is very

important to consult those who will benefit from these reforms to ensure

that we are on the right track. I am very pleased that the Joint

Oireachtas Committee was able to undertake a public consultation process on

the General Scheme which enabled key stakeholders to offer their views on

our proposals.

“On foot of that consultation process, the Committee has produced a report

which offers a series of constructive recommendations regarding the General

Scheme. We are currently examining these recommendations as part of the

process of finalising the Bill. I would also like to thank the Ombudsman

for Children who also provided useful advice on the General Scheme.”

The Minister added: “I look forward to ongoing cooperation with the Joint

Committee when I bring forward this legislation for consideration by the

Oireachtas later this year.”

The Minister commended the Joint Committee, and in particular its chairman,

David Stanton, T.D, for his excellent work in pursuing the feasibility of

establishing a Community Court in Ireland.

She said the Committee’s report will be “a valuable aid to considering

whether the Community Court model can be of benefit to the Irish criminal

justice system and it will be given active consideration in my Department”.

Community Courts provide an integrated, problem-solving solution to dealing

with relatively low-level crimes, as well as a rapid response to dealing

with one-off offending that can occur, such as public order offending.

The Minister stated that a considerable amount of preparatory work needs to

be undertaken in collaboration with all stakeholders before a pilot project

can be established. When the matter has been fully examined, she intends to

bring forward proposals on the establishment of a Community court in Dublin

city centre on a pilot basis.

“I believe that appropriate planning is the key to getting an effective

court in place and it will also entail significant consultation with all

stakeholders including the community itself”.

The Minister said that the recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas

Committee on the General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Community

Sanctions) Bill will inform the development and refinement of the

legislation.

This proposed legislation will replace the Probation of Offenders Act 1907

with modern provisions dealing with community sanctions and the role of the

Probation Service in the criminal justice system.

“The observations of the Committee and the organisations which made

submissions to the Committee on the proposed community sanctions

legislation will be carefully considered during the drafting of the Bill”.