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Irish Probation Sevice is looking for a new Director General, apply now!

The Probation Service is an agency within the Department of Justice and Equality whose function is to contribute to public safety by the provision of probation supervision, community service, offending behaviour programmes and specialist support services to both adult and young offenders. It also provides a probation service to prisons and places of detention to rehabilitate offenders and facilitate prisoner re-integration.

Reporting to the Deputy Secretary, Criminal Justice, the Director of the Probation Service will be responsible for the proper governance, strategic leadership and management of the Service. There is a current staff complement of over 400 and a current annual budget of €49 million.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Excellent senior management and leadership experience in a multifunctional organisation of significant complexity and scale;
• Experience which demonstrates finely developed interpersonal skills to enable the post-holder to operate effectively and gain credibility with the key players and top management figures in all Justice and Legal bodies as well as across Government;
• A track record of sound judgement in pressured situations and high level strategic ability and decision making skills;
• Knowledge of the criminal justice system;
• Demonstrated capacity to provide leadership, promote the development of an excellent and inclusive team-based working environment, and to cultivate a future generation of highly-skilled leaders in the Department.

For more information about the position of Director General of the Irish Probation Service, please click on the link.

More job openings

The Irish Probation Service is also looking for new probation officers. A Probation Officer in the Probation Service of the Department of Justice and Equality may be assigned to duties in any of the following areas: courts and community, prisons/places of detention, young persons’ probation or other particular assignments that may arise in the Service.

Are you interested in?

  • Working in a service which is changing, developing and expanding
  • Challenging offenders to change 
  • Making good the harm done by crime (Reparation and Restorative Justice) 
  • Working with communities and neighbourhoods to manage offenders and reduce offending behaviour

Apply here!

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