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 information on whether the Spent Convictions legislation signed into law in February and commenced end April 2016 applies to you, please see Citizens Information. If this does not answer your question, please contact the Department of Justice - contact details here.
With thanks to SpunOut.ie we have produced a short information video on Spent Convictions (for convictions received for offences committed over 18). We have also produced an easy-to-read information sheet on spent convictions.
For questions about the Garda Vetting 'Admin Filter', please contact the Garda Central Vetting Unit.
IPRT has been campaigning for robust and extensive Spent Convictions legislation to be introduced in Ireland since 2007. You can read all about our work and recent developments below.
Offences committed under age 18?
Under Section 258 of the Children Act 2001, offences committed by those under eighteen years of age can be expunged from the record once certain conditions are met. See here.
With thanks to SpunOut.ie, we also have a short information video on Expungement of Convictions (for convictions received for offences committed under 18). We have also produced an easy-to-read information sheet on expungement of convictions.
8th February 2024
Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) launched a new scoping study exploring the attitudes of employers in Ireland to hiring people with criminal convictions. The report presents the findings from interviews with employers and people with convictions, survey data, and a workshop event.
8th February 2024
Saoirse Brady, Executive Director of Irish Penal Reform Trust and Damien Quinn founder of Spéire Nua, spoke on RTÉ Radio One Drivetime about the new research published by IPRT that shows barriers remain for people with a history of convictions to finding work.
2nd November 2023
In an Irish Times report, IPRT responds to the publication of the Central Statistics Office research ‘Circumstances of People Linked to Justice Sanctions’ covering the period of 2025-2021. IPRT welcomes the research focus on employment, notes the impact convictions may have on gaining employment, and puts forward practical steps to address this.
1st November 2023
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) released its report 'Circumstances of People Linked to Justice Sanctions 2015-2021'.
28th March 2022
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee TD has published Justice Plan 2022, outlining 159 actions to continue building a justice system that works for everyone.
11th March 2022
The Department of Justice has published its first Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, with the aim of fostering and increasing equality, diversity and inclusion in the organisation, both for its staff and for those it delivers services to.
21st February 2022
The report on a consultation on proposals to reform rehabilitation periods in Northern Ireland has been published by the Department of Justice NI. The Minister is now progressing plans for reform of the current scheme.
7th February 2022
MEDIA ADVISORY: In publishing the fifth edition of PIPS, IPRT finds that the penal system – in some key areas of practice – has regressed over the last five years. We called for reforms in custodial sentencing policy so that prison is used as a last resort.
7th January 2022
This is the Irish Penal Reform Trust’s first submission to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The submission makes the overarching point that Ireland is over-reliant on imprisonment as a response to social issues and socio-economic disadvantage.
8th December 2021
The main area of focus in the submission is on adding an additional equality ground, namely, discrimination on the basis of a criminal conviction.
6th October 2021
Ulster University and NIACRO undertook a quantitative study to explore employer practices and concerns, and to investigate what may increase the likelihood of them hiring people with convictions. Less than 1% of employers surveyed stated they would ‘definitely not’ consider hiring someone with a conviction history
12th August 2021
The Mid-Year Progress Report on Justice Plan 2021 was published in August, and details the progress made so far to achieve 5 goals - or 240 actions - identified in the Justice Action Plan 2021 published earlier this year.
28th June 2021
Senator Lynn Ruane's PMB to expand current spent convictions laws has passed through the Seanad. The next step is for the Bill to be considered, examined, and debated in the Dáil.
25th June 2021
New figures published by the CSO find that almost 62% of people released from prison in 2015 re-offended within three years. In response, the IPRT is calling for the Government to introduce a statutory obligation on agencies co-operate around prisoner release.
22nd May 2021
Following a report in the Irish Examiner about a person formerly addicted to heroin appearing before the courts charged with possession of €4 worth of cannabis, thejournal.ie spoke to advocacy groups working in the areas of drug addiction and penal reform, including IPRT.
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.