McDowell establishes Restorative Justice Commission

A new commission has been established to examine how effective restorative justice would be in Ireland.

The process seeks to give victims and offenders a chance to participate in a mediation process.

The new commission will look at existing programmes elsewhere in the world, and pilot projects here in Ireland.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell says restorative justice isn't a "soft option" and does give positive results.

"It's not appropriate in every circumstance obviously, but a system that results in the offender facing up to the consequences in person of what he or she has done and making amends can be extremely challenging, sometimes much more difficult than being processed through the courts system," he said.

The Minister believes that it "changes attitudes and behaviour and can in certain cases, change lives".