Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2025
131. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice the current utilisation rate of structured temporary release, broken down by offence category, compared with 2020 to 2024; and the reoffending rate for persons released under this scheme. [21483/25]
View answerStructured temporary release can refer to two particular schemes, namely the Community Support Scheme and Community Return Scheme. The Community Return Programme is a shared initiative between the Irish Prison Service and the Probation Service, a key element of which is that the participants must engage in work on community service sites as part of their release conditions, thereby giving back to their communities. The Community Support Scheme provides supports for short-term sentence prisoners, and Community Support groups engage with people in custody shortly after committal and seek to identify risk factors, make appropriate referrals and prepare a sentence management plan in each case. In March 2023, the criteria for participation in the Community Return and Community Support Schemes were expanded to allow additional people to become eligible for assessment for suitability to participate on these structured and supported temporary release schemes.In relation to the data sought by the Deputy, I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that the below table sets out the numbers participating in the Community Return and Community Support Schemes for the years 2020 to 2025 to date.
|
Year |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 (to date) |
|
Community Return Scheme |
287 |
218 |
176 |
213 |
216 |
71 |
|
Community Support Scheme |
280 |
321 |
363 |
444 |
406 |
127 |
I am further advised that the current compliance rates for those on structured temporary release stands at 90% for Community Return and 70% for Community Support.
In relation to the offence categories requested by the Deputy for those on structured temporary release, it has not been possible to collate this information in the time available, and I will write to the Deputy directly once the information is to hand.
