By Sarah Ruane and Sinead Farrelly

Forty five per cent of people released from prison reoffend within the first three years, according to figures released this week by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The CSO used a matching process to match prisoners released in 2010 to crime incident and court outcome data sets, in order to identify re-offences and re-convictions.

These figures show a small decline of 2.4% in recidivism from 47.5% in 2009. Male reoffending fell from 48.2% to 46.0%, while the rate for females fell from 41.2% to 37.8%.

Of the 4,208 individuals who were found to have re-offended, 60.8% offended had done so within six months of their official release date and an additional 16.7% within one year.

Most re-offenders were convicted for offences which fell into a different crime group than their initial imprisonment offence. The other 21.9% were convicted for offences of the same crime type.  Individuals who had been imprisoned for burglary and related offences showed the highest rate of recidivism (68.6%).

The rate of re-offending among prisoners in younger age groups decreased compared to the previous release (54.4% to 49.8%, down 4.6% among those under 21) while the rate among older prisoners increased (24.8% to 29.4%, up 4.6% among those aged 51 and over).

This characteristic was observed in both male and female prisoners. The contrast was particularly apparent among female offenders where re-offending among under 21s fell nearly 13% while recidivism for those aged 51 and over rose almost 9%.

By Sarah Ruane

The rent crisis in Dublin was made distinctly clear on Tuesday, following the most recent rent report from Daft.ie. The grim findings confirmed that rents have increased by almost 13 per cent in some areas of Dublin, with the highest rise in West Dublin (12.6 per cent) where the average monthly rent now stands at €1,399, up 12.6 per cent on this time last year.

As we know, students are amongst those who are most vulnerable to this frightful spike in rent prices, with many of them finding it difficult to acquire accommodation in the city within their budget.

“The spike is completely unjustified, landlords are expecting too much for substandard living conditions, it’s ridiculous,” said fourth year optometry student Emma Walsh.

Ms Walsh was forced into “digs” style accommodation in Templeogue this year after she was unable to find suitable accommodation close to her college, DIT, in Dublin’s city centre.  The optometry student has had to rely on buses in order to get to college. Bus fares on top of rent payments have placed a huge financial burden on the final year student.

“I’ve had to cut down my hours in work as I’m in fourth year and the workload is too heavy. I worked extra hours during the summer as I knew I wouldn’t be [able to] finance myself this college year. My college timetable is very busy as it’s final year and weekends are my only chance to get my assignments done. This, plus work, is adding even more pressure to a difficult year,” she said.

The Daft.ie latest quarterly rental report shows rents rose nationwide by an average of 11.7 per cent in the year to September. This is the largest annual increase in rents ever recorded in the Daft.ie report, which first began in 2002.

Vice president of the USI, Jack Leahy, believes that recent developments in the private rental market only serve the interests of those who own rental property.

“Simply hiking a price because a market context justifies it is predatory behaviour, there has to be a notable improvement in quality of accommodation for the kind of increases that we’re seeing to be justified,” he said.

When asked about the support that colleges offer to students, Mr Leahy stated there is no consistency across colleges in how information is presented and how support is offered.

“The housing crisis comes at a time when institutions are trying to recruit more and higher fee-paying non-EU students, but there is no consistent support offered to these students to find housing. There is definitely a lot more that can be done to support students. There isn’t really an incentive to reach out, either, as rooms are filling very quickly due to the state of the market,” he said.

Karen Dunleavy, who is currently in the first year of a MRUP master’s degree in UCD, shares the same frustrations as Mr. Leahy. She believes that there is not enough support or information given out by colleges.

“The information is not readily available to students and they don’t even have much advertised, you have to go looking for it. I don’t know where I would even start looking. From living in Galway for the last few years I have found it very difficult to cope with the rise in rent,” she said.

The USI have given a few tips and guidelines for students seeking accommodation next year.

1. Panic is your enemy, and planning is your friend.
2. Start to assess your situation and your options in the New Year, and have a plan in place for the many possible outcomes.
3. If you’re looking for accommodation, never put down money unless you’re sure.
4. Make sure you’ve seen the place and met the landlord before any cash changes hands.
5. Make sure to only work with registered landlords if you’re in the private sector.
6. Insist on the standards that the high cost should demand.
7. Most importantly, feel free to seek out the support that you can avail of from your students’ union.

By Rachel D’Arcy 

Ireland’s struggle with the Eighth Amendment has been well publicised. Our relationship and treatment of those needing an abortion, for personal or medical reasons, has been criticised widely on social media. Now, this same platform is being used to project the voice of those that are going through the ordeal of travelling abroad for a life changing/saving operation, who do not have their story told in mainstream news outlets.

On November 10^th, a couple began to live tweet their journey to Liverpool for an abortion, gaining over 3,000 followers on @itstimetorepeal by 2:30pm. They already have one child, born with a genetic condition which has seen him spend long periods of time in hospital. Knowing the likelihood that this could happen again, the couple still made the decision to try for their second pregnancy.

“A fatal foetal abnormality was discovered. We had never heard of Edwards’ Syndrome before but we were told that even if carried to full term the period of life would be counted in the minutes and hours after birth. It is a crushing sentence for any person to hear let alone for my wife who has had to give up her career to become a full time carer for our little boy,” the father wrote on Twitter, referencing a scan the couple had for their unborn child.

The couple are not the first to live-blog their trip to the UK for an abortion. In August, @twowomentravel on Twitter made the journey to England, live tweeting their experience of having to leave Ireland to terminate a pregnancy. However, this is a degree more poignant, as the couple involved detailed that their fetus has a fatal abnormality – a reason for abortion legislation that has been raised time and time again by Repeal supporters.

The Eighth Amendment, and the Repeal movement, have featured prominently on social, as well as mainstream media and in Dáil Debates. Many call for the Eighth amendment to be abolished, or indeed reformed. In Irish legislation, the Eighth Amendment is defined as “the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.” This renders abortion illegal in Ireland, as the focus is on protecting the life of the fetus.

Minister for Health, Simon Harris, said it “saddens and frustrates [him] that women in Ireland can’t access abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality” in the wake of the account being set up. Independent TD for Dublin West Ruth Coppinger referenced the Eighth Amendment in a recent Dáil debate also. “It is ludicrous that a country with the Eighth Amendment would now pose itself as being somehow progressive on women’s rights,” she said in a recent debate on legalising sex work in Ireland.