Extern Ireland 

A.     Service overview and contact details

 

Focus of restorative justice (RJ) and restorative practice (RP) activities

Extern is an all-island body that provides multiple justice-related and social justice services. In the Republic of Ireland, Extern delivers: 

  • 4 Garda Youth Diversion projects [GYDP] (located in Naas, Athy, Limerick and Raheny);
  • 1 Janus Justice Project (located in Limerick); and 
  • 3 Bail Supervision Schemes (located in Dublin, Cork and Limerick). 

GYDPs engage with young people at risk of, or who are involved in, anti-social and/or criminal activities, and provide them with targeted supports to stop their offending behaviours and become positive contributors to society. The Janus Justice project aims to address the a-typical offending behaviour of young people who have not responded to or failed to engage with the mainstream GYDP services through the provision of intensive and individualised support. The Bail Supervision Scheme offers courts an alternative option to detention of young persons by offering the possibility of granting bail with intensive support. Restorative practices are used informally during individual sessions with the young people. 

Year of commencement (RJ/RP elements) 

Extern Ireland began delivering justice services in 2013 with its GYDP services. 

Service details

Extern Ireland 

Unit B, Block B

Kreston House

Arran Court

Arran Quay 

Dublin D07 K271
Website: https://www.extern.org/ 

Email: comms@extern.org 

Tel: 01 563 9402

Head of service 

Danny McQuillan, Director of Services

Email: Danny.McQuillan@extern.org

Tel: +44 (0)28 9084 0555

Staffing structure

One Programme Manager is responsible for overseeing all the justice projects.  

Service  Staff Structure 
GYDP Naas 1 Co-ordinator (part-time) and 2 Youth Justice Workers
GYDP Athy 1 Co-ordinator (part-time) and 2 Youth Justice Workers
GYDP Limerick 1 Co-ordinator (part-time)  and 3 Youth Justice Workers
GYDP Raheny 1 Co-ordinator and 1 Youth Justice Worker
Janus Justice 1 Co-ordinator (part-time) and 3 Project Workers 
Bail Supervision Dublin 1 Service Manager, 3 MST Therapists (Extern Family Workers) and 1 Janus Justice Worker
Bail Supervision Cork 1 Service Manager, 3 MST Therapists (Extern Family Workers) and 1 Janus Justice Worker
Bail Supervision Limerick  1 Service Manager, 3 MST Therapists (Extern Family Workers) and 1 Janus Justice Worker

Staff training in RJ/RP 

Janus Justice staff undertake three-day training in restorative conferencing. 

GYDP staff avail of RJ/RP training when available. 

Use of volunteers

Not applicable

Volunteer training in RJ/RP

Not applicable

Main source(s) of funding

Department of Justice/Irish Youth Justice Service and Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Other Funds include the Dormant Account Funds and European Social Fund. 

Annual budget

  • GYDP – 2020 annual budgets ranged from €114k to €204k 
  • Janus Justice – 2020 annual budget is €210k
  • Bail Supervision – 2020 annual budgets for the 12 months from Autumn 2020 onwards range from €615k to €675k 

Nature of funding

  • GYDP and Janus Justice – annual funding bids
  • Bail Supervision – awarded in 2020 as five year tender contract 

Organisational status

Charity. Extern Ireland and Extern Northern Ireland sit under the Extern Group, which is the parent company. 

Target client group

  • GYDPs engage with young people aged 12-17 who are at risk of, or who are involved in, anti-social and/or criminal activity.
  • The Janus Justice Project works with young people medium to high risk, aged 12-17, referred by the Juvenile Liaison Office, and young people/young adults up until the age of 23 referred by Young Persons Probation.
  • The Bail Supervision Scheme works with young people who are already on bail, aged 12-17, and their families.

Nature of offences

The scope of offences covered by Extern services ranges in severity from GYDP to Janus Justice to Bail Supervision. In the case of the GYDPs, the scope is those at risk of becoming involved in anti-social and criminal behaviour. The scope of offences covered by the Janus Justice Project includes an escalation in the seriousness of offences addressed by GYDPs and includes a-typical youth crime such as burglary, robbery, assault, possession of a weapon, possession of drugs for sale or supply, dangerous driving and arson. The Bail Supervision Scheme supports referrals who have already committed offences that have led to them being remanded by the Courts.

Source of referrals

  • GYDP – Referrals are through Garda Juvenile Liaison Officers (JLOs), Education Welfare Officers, schools or Youth Reach programmes, community organisations or self-referral by families and young people.
  • Janus Justice – Referrals are through Garda JLOs and Young Persons Probation.
  • Bail Supervision Scheme – Referrals are through the Courts Service.

Geographic area of activity

  • GYDP: Athy, Naas, Limerick Southside and Raheny (Dublin 5).
  • Janus Justice: Limerick City and County and County Clare. 
  • Bail Supervision Scheme: Dublin, Limerick and Cork. 

B.     Nature of RJ/RP service

RJ/RP services provided

Restorative practices are in use in the Garda Youth Diversion Projects, Bail Supervision Scheme and Janus Justice Project. 

  • General: Restorative practices are used informally during individual sessions with the young people. If an incident occurs during a session or prior to it in relation to offending or behaviour at home or school, staff go through restorative questions with them. Staff then support the young people, as necessary, in their undertakings to make amends/repair the harm. 
  • GYDP: The projects offer the young participants opportunities for education, employment and training as well as sport, art, music and other activities that contribute to improving employability. Individual Intervention Plans ensure that the specific needs of each individual young person are considered. Organised group work sessions are used for developing conflict resolution skills, cooperation skills and being able to see issues from another’s perspective. Regular home contact occurs through home visits and telephone calls, while named keyworkers develop connections with the primary carers and other key people. The programme also places great importance on working with local residents, community groups, local partnerships, community centres and any other local services relevant to the young people’s needs.
  • Janus Justice Provides individually tailored support to young people at risk of escalating their offending/anti-social behaviour through the development of pro-social behaviours, resiliency and positive community interactions using a combination of interventions. Young people participate in individual sessions that provide focused interventions designed to meet their needs, activity sessions, group work, special interest sessions, day trips, and overnights.
  • Bail Supervision Central to the delivery of the BSS is the use of the Multisystemic Therapy (MST) model. This evidence-based model of intervention is family-based, and seeks to change how young people function in their natural ecology (home, school and community), in ways that promote positive social behaviour, while at the same time reducing levels of anti-social behaviour. The delivery of MST is typically home-based, and therapists have small caseloads of four to six families, which enable them to work intensively with each family, typically over a three to five month period. Families are able to access support 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the ‘on-call’ system.

Activity levels

In 2020, Extern supported the following through its Justice Project:

  • GYDP projects: 95 young people
  • Janus Justice : 18 young people
  • Bail Supervision Dublin: 31 young people

The Janus Justice Project works with 12-15 young people at any one time. Average length of time on the project is 9 months. In GYPD projects, each worker supports 8-10 individuals per week. 

Community participation 

Not readily available

Offence breakdown  

Not readily available

Offender age and gender breakdown

Not readily available

Outcomes

GYDP: Across all GYDPs for 2019:

  • 100% of young people said Extern help them understand their options and make positive decisions
  • 99% of young people said that Extern helps them stay out of trouble
  • 91% of young people said that Extern encouraged them to attend school
  • 100% of referrers saw an improvement in the young people’s well-being since joining the programme. 

Janus Justice: The results of the most recent stakeholder survey for 2018 were:

  • 92% of participants feel they get on better with their family;
  • 100% of participants said that overall things had improved for them since they
  • started the programme;
  • 100% of parents/primary care givers said that their child had been supported to stay out of trouble; and,
  • 81% of referring professionals said that engagement in the Programme had led to a reduction in participants’ anti-social behaviour.

Bail Supervision Scheme

A recent evaluation found that “Systematic analyses of both primary (research interviews) and secondary (administrative) data sources provide substantive evidence that the BSS contributed to positive changes in the participating young people’s behaviour’ (Naughton, et al., 2019).

In particular, the evaluation findings show:

  • A 72 per cent reduction in reoffending amongst BSS participants. The control group, on the other hand (young people outside Court 55 for which the presiding Judge refused bail) experienced a reduction in reoffending of 37 per cent over an equivalent timeframe. Thus, on average the young people enrolled on the BSS had a reduction in reoffending almost twice that of the control group. 
  • Combining findings from analysis of both Extern’s case records and interview data provides evidence that the young people who completed BSS with a planned exit showed marked improvement in adherence to bail conditions as the intervention progressed. 
  • The majority of young people who completed the BBS demonstrated full adherence to bail conditions on exit. Finally, of the 13 young people who completed a full course of MST intervention, 11 attracted a non-custodial disposal at the sentencing hearing, thereby avoiding detention altogether.

C.     Sources of further information

Website

Strategic Plan 

Reports

Extern Janus Justice Case Study Examples