The Irish Prison Service and the Probation Service both manage orders of the Criminal Courts handed down in respect of convicted offenders. It is the work of the Probation Service to manage such offenders in the community and the work of the Irish Prison Service to manage those sent to prison, in the first instance.

Both organisations have as their primary goal the maintenance of public safety through the reduction in offending of those in their care. Increasingly offenders are sentenced to periods in custody followed by periods under supervision in the community after release.

For the majority of those incarcerated, and for those sentenced to sanctions in the community, similar criminogenic needs and risks exist. Lack of employment, abuse of alcohol and drugs, anti-social attitudes and companions, emotional and personal difficulties, poor educational achievement, family problems, and lack of housing or accommodation are prominent among them. Such multiple needs are often interrelated and mutually reinforcing.

Essential to offender focused interventions is that both criminal justice and non-criminal justice agencies encourage the development of a multi-agency problem–solving approach by focusing on offenders, not on offences. Approaches which tackle the complex range of needs are more likely to be effective than focusing on single issues in isolation.

The Irish Prison Service and the Probation Service in their combined efforts to address the cycles of sustained offending behaviour, which place a tremendous burden on national resources, especially through prison overcrowding, need to bring together partners to develop and deliver responses that work. Community resources need to have strong links with prisons so that work can start early,