REPEAT OFFENDER WILL BE TARGET

A multi-agency initiative aimed at cutting down the havoc caused by repeat offenders is to be extended to Dundalk this year, Justice Minister Francis Fitzgerald has announced.

The initiative, known as the Joint Agency Response to Crime (J-ARC) involves inter-agency co-operation between the Department of Justice, the Gardai, the Prison Service, the Probation Service as well as voluntary and community organisations.

It has been trialled in four initiatives in Dublin and Minister Fitzgerald revealed to Fianna Fail TD for Dublin Bay South, Jim O’Callaghan, that it is to be extended to Dundalk, along with Waterford and Limerick.

Minister Fitzgerald said: ‘In an effort to strengthen the overall management of prolific offenders a Joint Agency Response to Crime (J-ARC) was developed. J-ARC is a strategic response to the management of prolific offenders. As part of this strategy a number of pilot initiatives have been developed to address the offenders’ behaviour and reduce crime.

‘In November 2015 I formally launched J-ARC which four inter-agency initiatives in Dublin. This is now being extended to three additional areas; Dundalk, Waterford and Limerick.

On 22 September this year I launched the first Joint Strategy between the Department of Justice and Equality, An Garda Síochána, The Probation Service and the Irish Prison Service.

‘ The Joint Strategy, drawn up by the three agencies and with the full support of my Department recognises that in order to protect the public and reduce victimisation in Irish society, a joint approach to the management of offenders is essential.

‘It sets out a range of agreed key objectives and supporting actions for the enhanced management of offenders, to be advanced on an inter-agency basis in the period 2016-2018.

‘It places particular emphasis on the management of high-volume offenders, sex offenders, perpetrators of domestic violence, combined with a strong focus on the rights and protection of crime victims’.