Parliamentary Questions

36. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of her Department’s plans for the development of the Drug Treatment Court model; her plans to expand on the existing structure; the number of persons who have participated in the model and the outcomes; the number of recommendations of the report of the penal policy review group which have been implemented; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7622/17]

Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality (Deputy Frances Fitzgerald): As the Deputy will be aware, the Drug Treatment Court is aimed at people with drug addiction problems who come before the District Court on minor criminal charges linked to their drug addiction. It is a problem solving court and makes an important contribution, not least as an alternative to prison. The Drug Treatment Court operates on the basis that a criminal matter has not proceeded to formal conviction and the presiding Judge reviews matters at each adjournment, frequently over an extended period of time, to assess progress, before the matter before the Court is eventually finalised. Participants on the programme receive a lot of help and support from the team that supports the Drug Treatment Court including an education coordinator, a liaison nurse among others in dealing with the challenge of tackling their addiction.
The catchment area served by the Drug Treatment Court was significantly expanded in July 2013 to encompass the whole of County Dublin and the programme has also found a way to facilitate participants from outside of Dublin, which is a positive development.
Number of Referrals to Drug Treatment Court
In 2016 there has seen a very significant increase in the numbers of people referred to participate in the Drug Treatment Court Programme. The following table gives an indication as to the comparative numbers since the project commenced.

Year	Referrals
2001	54
2002	35
2003	43
2004	25
2005	39
2006	54
2007	47
2008	40
2009	37
2010	42
2011	51
2012	66
2013	94
2014	55
2015	98
2016	174

Current participant numbers and progress
The following table gives an overview of participant numbers at each of the phases over the past 2 years:

		24 March 2015	4 Jun 2015	30 Sept 2015	31 Dec 2015	12 April 2016	29 Jun 2016	10 Nov 2016	6 Dec 2016	7 Feb 2017
Participants:	Bronze	24	28	24	33	41	41	43	44	51
	Silver	6	8	11	13	11	13	15	16	11
	Gold	6	5	4	4	10	6	5	7	10
	Graduated Gold	48	49	50	52	52	57	57	57	57
	Graduated Silver	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
	Discharged	250	255	264	271	282	292	303	304	311
Non- Participants:	Being Assessed	20	14	17	25	49	48	77	84	87
	Unsuitable	382	394	406	412	436	457	465	472	483
Total Referrals:		741	758	781	815	886	919	970	989	1015

While a large number of participants do not achieve a full graduation, many of them succeed in other areas of the programme such as achieving full FETAC certificates and obtaining employment. Also many no longer commit criminal offences and many also reconnect with their families and, in particular, with their children.
Outcomes under the Drug Treatment Court Programme
In the last 12 months, the figures show a significant increase in the numbers being assessed and also in the numbers in the bronze phase. Those who graduate at the gold phase are deemed to be completely clean of all drugs and this attainment level is particularly hard to achieve.

Year	Gold level graduates	Silver level graduates
2010	5	-
2011	4	-
2012	3	4
2013	3	1
2014	1	1
2015	6	-
2016	5	-

The Penal Policy Review Group was tasked with carrying out a strategic review of penal policy. The Review Group's Report, which I published in September 2014, made 43 recommendations in total. Work is underway to progress the recommendations of the Review Group and to this end I have established a Penal Policy Implementation Oversight Group. The Group is chaired by Dr. Mary Rogan who was a member of the Review Group. I have received two reports to date from this Group setting out the state of implementation of the recommendations. Both of these reports are available to view on my Department's website. A significant number of the recommendations of the Group involve areas of change requiring sustained intervention over a period of time and the implementation of these recommendations is under active 6 monthly review by the Oversight Group led by Dr. Rogan. While three of the recommendations have been fully implemented, significant progress is being made in the vast majority of the remaining recommendations. I expect to receive a further report from this Group in the near future and it is also my intention to publish this report.