Ursula Fernee

My lengthy career in the Probation Service has encompassed work, both as a practitioner and as a manager in the community, as part of multi-disciplinary projects and in custodial settings. That experience and knowledge of the criminal justice system provided me with the skills set and credibility to design and establish a Restorative Justice and Victim Services Unit (RJVSU) that is continuing to embed restorative justice interventions within probation practice. Influencing and negotiating with the judiciary, criminal justice partners, community based organisations and victim advocacy groups are critical to the work of the team. I had a key advocacy and drafting role in inserting the restorative justice provisions in the 2017 Victims of Crime Act. My involvement with the European Restorative Justice Policy Network over the last 4 years combined with my activities as a core member of RJS4C have enabled me to play a key role in guiding and informing a governmental decision to publish a restorative justice policy that includes a commitment to a national restorative justice delivery service.

The publication of the CoE Recommendation on restorative justice in 2018 coincided, very fortuitously, with the establishment of the RJVSU. The paper brought a real clarity to the operation of restorative justice across all stages of criminal justice procedure and I was delighted to join the RJS4C project as it provided me with the opportunity for a wider and deeper engagement with colleagues across Europe. My organisation and I have benefited tremendously from our partnership with Europe. I believe I can now make a real contribution to connecting members and supporting the Network’s mission to enable every person to have access to high quality restorative justice services, particularly within a criminal justice context. My communication skills are well honed through the delivery of papers at national and international restorative justice events including an EFRJ Conference in 2019. I am a long-standing member of the editorial committee of Irish Probation Journal, the sole criminological journal in Ireland and have been joint editor for the past five years. I am committed to ‘best practice’ and could make a significant contribution to policy and practice procedures particularly as they relate to Probation practice. I have experience of Board membership as I was the ministerial nominee to the first social work registration board in Ireland.

It is my immense pleasure to endorse Ursula Fernee’s candidacy for a Board member of the European Forum for Restorative Justice. I believe Ursula is an exceptional candidate for this opportunity because of her role as Assistant Principal Probation Officer from the Probation Service Restorative Justice and Victim Services Unit and her contribution to the popularisation of restorative justice in probation work in Ireland. Ursula brings excellent credentials to the aforementioned position. Firstly she has acquired a vast amount of knowledge and expertise about the probation system, probation work as well as opportunities and challenges in building restorative probation services. Secondly, she has been a core member of the Irish team in the ‘Restorative Justice Strategies for Change’ project and has played a key role in translating and applying policy recommendations into practice. Thirdly, Ursula’s keen interest in international perspectives on probation and restorative justice will greatly benefit the European Forum for Restorative Justice in their endeavours to serve as an inclusive platform to facilitate and exchange knowledge and practice between countries.

As a close colleague of Ursula Fernee’s here in Ireland, I am delighted to support her candidature for the Board of the EFRJ. Ursula is dedicated to restorative justice and has played a pivotal role in its development in Ireland for some years, including by contributing to legislation, establishing and supporting services, setting up and leading a new restorative justice and victim services unit in her own Probation Service, and collaborating with a range of actors (including myself) in the ongoing ‘Restorative Justice Strategies for Change’ (RJS4C) project. At the international level, moreover, Ursula has developed good links with the EFRJ members in several countries and is an active participant in the EFRJ policy forum. She would be a fine addition to the EFRJ Board.

Email: ugfernee@probation.ie

Organisation, job title: Assistant Principal Probation Officer, Probation Service