The Pat Kenny Show: Interview on Spent Convictions

2nd February 2017

IPRT’s Acting Executive Director Fíona Ní Chinnéide spoke to The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk on the topic of spent convictions.

The debate arose as a result of a report in The Irish Times by Kitty Holland, 'Young people’s criminal records ‘should be wiped at 25’'. Kieran Mulvey, former Chairman of the Workplace Relations Commission, was briefing residents of Dublin’s northeast inner-city on his forthcoming report (to be submitted to the Government next week) about what needs to be done to regenerate the area.

One proposal was to take crimes committed while people were aged 18 to 25 off the record.

Kieran Mulvey is quoted in the Irish Times article as saying:

"We have to believe errors committed in youth can be forgotten and overcome. We have to help people into employment and not condemn them to repeated visits to Mountjoy”.

IPRT would support this proposal. Securing employment or training, and the ability to rebuild a life after committing an offence, is crucial to breaking the cycle of offending. Effective spent convictions legislation has a major role to play in removing barriers to the reintegration of former offenders and prisoners who have demonstrated that they have moved on from past offending behaviour.

For more:

• The Pat Kenny Show: listen here

• The Irish Times: 'Young people’s criminal records ‘should be wiped at 25’'

• Read more about spent convictions legislation here