Treo Port Láirge

A.     Service overview and contact details 

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

Treo Port Láirge is a community-based organisation in Waterford, core-funded by the Department of Justice through the Probation Service. Its main aim is to reduce criminal activity among the people in its target group of 16 to 23-year-olds by providing educational, social and vocational support while challenging offending attitudes and behaviour. Restorative practices are one of four core approaches it uses in its work. 

Year of commencement (RJ/RP elements)

2000

Service details

Treo Port Láirge CLG

Lacken Road Business Park

Waterford

Website: http://www.treoportlairge.ie/index.html 

Email: admin@treoportlairge.ie 

Tel: 051 379 740

Head of service 

Ken Sauvage

CEO

Email: ceo@treoportlairge.ie

Tel: 087 225 0938

Staffing structure

Treo employs 19 full-time and part-time staff, all of whom use restorative approaches in their work, with no single member of staff dedicated exclusively to restorative practice.  

Staff training in RJ/RP

The CEO and a number of staff trained in RP with the International Institute for Restorative Practice (IIRP) and then with the Childhood Development Initiative (CDI). The CEO and other staff are accredited trainers and have trained other staff. Many staff are accredited RP facilitators.

Use of volunteers 

In 2019, Treo had three volunteers working with its Treo project in Waterford City and one volunteer working with its Local Training Initiative.

Volunteer training in RJ/RP

All volunteers are given an RP induction.

Main source(s) of funding

The Department of Justice provides core funding via the Probation Service. Treo’s Special Rehabilitation Community Employment project is funded by the Department of Social Protection. Its Local Training Initiative is funded by Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board, while its Renew Social Enterprises project was part funded by Pobal.

Annual budget 

Circa €800,000 in 2020.

Nature of funding 

Annual application for funding.

Organisational status 

Company Limited by Guarantee and Registered Charity.

Target client group

The Treo project works with people aged from 16 years with criminal convictions, the Local Training Initiative (LTI) works with young people aged 16 to 23, and the Special Rehabilitative Community Employment Scheme works with stabilised drug users aged 18-35. Renew Social Enterprises employs people with criminal convictions aged from 18 years.

Nature of offences

Not applicable  

Source of referrals

Agency/self-referrals 

Geographic area of activity

Waterford City and Dungarvan with participants from all over the county

B.     Nature of RJ/RP service

RJ/RP services provided

  1. Restorative practices
  2. Waterford Restorative Practice Network (WRPN) 

Main process elements and short description of each model 

Restorative Practices: Treo staff apply four evidence-based approaches across all of its services and interventions, one of which is restorative practices (the other three are Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Approaches, and the Outcome Star Tool). Treo supports each person to understand how their behaviour has affected people, to take responsibility for this and to work with those they have harmed (where appropriate) to repair the harm and restore their relationship (if suitable). A list of the RP tools used here includes: Restorative Conversations, Restorative Questions, Check in Circles, Issue or Problem-Solving Circles and Restorative Conferences.

Waterford Restorative Practice Network (WRPN): WRPN is based at Treo’s city premises. It includes representatives of statutory, community and voluntary agencies. It has a pool of experienced RP practitioners and trainers who promote RP within these agencies and externally with multi-agency training and development.

Activity levels

In 2019, Treo in Waterford worked with 83 individuals across a range of programmes and supported 39 families. 77 people participated in courses with Renew Social Enterprises, 63 of whom successfully completed the course. All 77 also completed Manual Handling courses. The Local Training Initiative worked with 28 individuals in 2019 while the Special Rehabilitative CE Scheme worked with 22 participants (15 male and 7 female) during the year.

Community participation

Not applicable

Offence breakdown  

Not applicable

Offender age and gender breakdown

Not applicable

Outcomes 

Not applicable 

C.     Sources of further information 

Website

Treo Port Láirge

Reports