Judge places alcohol bans on offenders instead of jail

In an effort to curb drink-fuelled trouble in Co Clare, a judge is placing alcohol bans on offenders coming before Ennis District Court.

Instead of imposing immediate fines or custodial sentences, Judge Joseph Mangan is adjourning cases and ordering offenders to provide supervised urine samples twice weekly on Mondays and Thursdays for four weeks to check for the presence of alcohol and drugs.

He is also ordering probation reports on defendants found guilty of alcohol- or drug-related offences and that separate professional reports be carried out by addiction counsellors on defendants on their drug and alcohol abuse at the defendants' expense.

The urine samples are taken by a doctor and submitted to a laboratory for analysis. The sampling is also carried out at the defendants' expense.

The Fine Gael justice spokesman, Mr John Deasy TD, yesterday endorsed the approach.

He said: "I'm all for it. If it works, go with it. The idea is innovative and imaginative and I believe that judges as a group need to examine the approach being taken."

Mr Deasy said: "If one judge's approach is found to be a success it is also important that the Department of Justice examine the approach and do it quickly so that it can draw up effective guidelines for other judges.

"The policy cuts down on repeat offending, allows Garda resources to be freed up and, by not putting people behind bars, saves the taxpayer money."

The initiative has also received a positive response locally. Chief Supt Liam Quinn said that last year there were 508 arrests for public order offences in the Ennis area from a total of 1,250 arrests made.

"We find that in almost every case of a public order arrest, it is related to the abuse of alcohol, and any move that the judge makes in his wisdom to prevent alcohol abuse is to be welcomed," he said.

"He is obviously very sincere in his attempts to address the problem."

The president of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Mr Roger Leyden, said yesterday: "To some people it may seem a bit extreme, but if the move can curtail the alcohol-related crime in Ennis, our members would be all for anything that would help address the issue."

The Ennis mayor, Mr Peter Considine, said the initiative was "a good move and should focus minds on the seriousness of the public order problem.

"It serves society better to be imposing alcohol bans on offenders rather than sending them to prison."