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these agencies. But perhaps the most significant change brought about by Section 99(14)
is the implied coercive role of the Probation Officer to ensure compliance with conditions
by an offender under a suspended sentence. The Probation Officer under Section 99(14)
presents primarilyas a direct agent of the court to ensure strict compliance with conditions
attached to a suspended sentence in contrast with the earlier manifestation of the
Probation Officer who was there to advise assist and befriend the accused (Section 4
Probation of Offenders Act 1907). The future functioning of Section 99(14) may present
another paradigm shift for the Probation Service in Ireland 171 where the application of a
previously pronounced sentence i.e. the suspended sentence, can be invoked to ensure
compliance by client/offenders with interventions and programmes provided by the
Probation Service. 172 Earlier chapters noted the challenges which the introduction of the
communityservice order presented to the Probation Service in Irelandespeciallyin relation
to issues of non-compliance with the order and the degree of discretion considered
necessary to ensure compliance with the order. But, in a sense the community service
order was relatively uncomplicated insofar as the real issue of compliance was the
attendance for and performance of unremunerated work by the client/offender. While
the alternative sanction of imprisonment in the Irish community service order is known in
advance, the Section 99 suspended sentence also has a known custodial sentence attached
to it. The performance of conditions pursuant to Section 99(3) and (4) presuppose an
intervention in the client’s/offender’s behaviour and lifestyle which, it is argued here, is
much more demanding and fundamental in character than merely turning up at a
community service scheme and performing unpaid work. The test of compliance
pursuant to Section 99(3) and (4) might include a period of drug or alcohol-free living
which the client/offender may never be able to achieve, despite interventions at a
treatment programme. The value judgements which the Irish Probation Officer will be
called upon to exercise in relation to this newregime, it is argued, may redefine the role of
the Probation Service and provide the final break from their traditionally defined role as
social workers. Henceforth, if this section is used widely and the Probation Service are
inducted into the supervision of such orders, the function of the probation officer as penal
171 Consider the followingexample – an offender/client is placed on probation for 2 years havingbeen convicted of unlawful takingof a motor car, contraryto Section 112 of the Road
Traffic Act 1961. The offender has a drug dependencyproblem. The Probation Officer mayuse all manner of strategies to induce the offender to seek treatment and finallymay
breach the offender if s/he fails to co-operate. The final disposal of the case by the court is unknown before the breach is invoked. In the case of a suspended sentence under
Section 99, if a probation officer is involved in the sentence, the Probation Officer mayseek a revocation for non compliance with conditions but in this case the final disposal of the
case is known in advance i.e. acustodial sentence of definite duration (subject to judicial discretion).
172 The Probation Service provide assistance to offenders committed to prison. However, an offender sentenced under a suspended sentence under Section 99 is significantlybeholden
to the Probation Officer to exercise discretion when breach occurs. In contrast, the committed prisoner is alreadyincarcerated and need not give the same level of commitment to a
rehabilitation programme.
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