Building Pathways Together: Criminal Justice Reintegration Through Employment Strategy 2025-2027 wsa developed by the Department of Justice, in conjunction with the Irish Prison Service and the Probation Service, and in consultation with key stakeholders including Government Departments, agencies, and those with lived experience of the criminal justice system and have faced barriers to reintegration.

The strategy, which launched on 7 November 2024, seeks to provide effective interventions to ensure that those who have ceased offending, and those who are looking for stability to move away from a life which involves offending, have the appropriate supports and opportunities open to them to make the success of their endeavours more likely.

Implementation of the Building Pathways Together strategy commenced in 2025, including establishing a Criminal Justice Employment Advisory Committee to oversee progress on actions. A Criminal Justice Employers’ Network has been established to bring together relevant agencies and employers to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with recruitment of individuals with criminal convictions. It adopts a problem-solving approach to address the challenges identified.

The Programme for Government 2025, Securing Ireland’s Future, commits to implementing an employment strategy for former offenders. This Report is the first Annual Report on progress to implement the Building Pathways Together Strategy, outlining the progress achieved to provide the appropriate supports and opportunities to those who have ceased offending and are seeking stability throughout the first year of the strategy. Key developments in 2025 include:

• KickStart Scholarship funding provided for Semester 2, 2025 – 2026
• Preparatory work for KickStart Round 4
• The graduation of the first cohort of the Lived Experience Leadership Programme (LEAD)
• Establishment of the Criminal Justice Employer’s Network (CJEN) and Criminal Justice Employment Advisory Committee (CJEAC)
• Gaisce Generation Change: Embracing New Horizons Event
• Commencement of Building Pathways Together website development

P.12 ‘Experts by Experience’ (EbyE) - The IPS currently employs Experts by Experience (EbyE) on a contract basis. The function of this role is to provide support to current prisoners via:

a) relevant learning and development podcasts for the prison TV channel,
b) co-facilitating groups with the psychology service,
c) input to planning and roll-out of the annual Irish Prison Service Mental Health Week and related events,
d) supporting the implementation of mental health and addiction recovery programmes across the prison estate, and
e) sitting on various working groups and informing appropriate policy and procedures from an EbyE perspective.