Christmas 2024 update – Post-election manifesto round-up, employment and training opportunities

Post-election manifesto round-up

Among the parties from which at least 1 TD was elected, several manifestos referenced restorative justice. The references (by party, alphabetically listed!) include:

• Fianna Fáil ‘will […] Reduce recidivism by rolling out nationally the voluntary restorative justice programme and the Youth Diversion programmes’ (p. 112).
• The Greens ‘will […] Reduce overcrowding through the increased use of non-custodial sanctions for non-violent crimes. Community sanctions and models of restorative justice offer the dual benefits of lowering the numbers in our prisons while also reducing levels of recidivism’ (p. 57).
• The Labour Party ‘will […] implement strong [penal] reforms including increased funding for the Probation Service to provide for greater use of Community Service Orders and the use of restorative justice’ (p. 83) and ‘Invest in integration strategies, community recognition, dialogue, and restorative justice programmes’ (p. 112).
• Sinn Féin’s ‘priorities include […] Investing in restorative justice to respond to crime in communities’ and ‘Doubling investment in Restorative Justice Programmes and implementing Sinn Féin’s Criminal Justice (Promotion of Restorative Justice) (Amendment) Bill 2023’ (p. 112).
• The Social Democrats ‘will […] Work to establish and deliver a safe and effective model of restorative justice’ (p. 122).

Of the remaining parties from which at least 1 TD was elected, I could not find a mention of restorative justice in the (again, alphabetically listed) Aontú, Fine Gael, Independent Ireland, People Before Profit or 100% Redress Party manifestos. You may also be interested in the references to restorative justice in the Irish Penal Reform Trust manifesto priorities (see p. 6), and in the Irish Council for Civil Liberties’ proposal for a Restorative Justice Act in their manifesto (p. 10).

Employment and training opportunities

• Le Chéile is hiring a Restorative Justice Coordinator for Cork and Kerry and another Coordinator (whose responsibilities include restorative justice) in Galway. Both roles close on 10 January.
• The European Forum for Restorative Justice is organising two practice-oriented courses in Belgium in February on restorative justice in prisons and restorative justice training skills – check them out here.
• The Amherst College Centre for Restorative Practices in the US has organised a number of free, online trainings and workshops – see here.
• Maynooth University has opened applications for the Microcredential in Restorative Practices, starting February, with a 50% subsidy for the first 20 registrants – see here.

Other items of possible interest

• The Probation Service’s new podcast series has episodes on restorative justice and Circles of Support and Accountability. The series host, comedian Colm O’Regan, also wrote an article in The Journal on its launch.
• Prof. Ian O’Donnell wrote about the underdevelopment of restorative justice in the context of the pressing need to move away from short prison sentences – find the article in the Irish Judicial Studies Journal here.
• Restorative justice in the news: The Journal reports on a restorative process following an offence related to a protest outside the Dáíl, and the Irish Times reports the views of Judge Paul Kelly, President of the District Court, before he spoke at a conference in Limerick.
• The Probation Service’s 2023 annual report discusses its restorative justice work for that year – see here (pp. 25-26).