Causeway promotes partnership working between the Department and the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service, Police Service for Northern Ireland, Public Prosecution Service Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Prison Service, Forensic Science Northern Ireland and the Probation Board for Northern Ireland. Causeway is now acknowledged to be an integral and critical component of the criminal justice process in Northern Ireland.
Who is involved?
The organisations participating in Causeway are:
- The Department of Justice
- Public Prosecution Service
- Police Service of Northern Ireland
- Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service
- Northern Ireland Prison Service
- Forensic Science Northern Ireland
- Probation Board for Northern Ireland
The Probation Board for Northern Ireland only has access to the Criminal Record via the Causeway Criminal Record Viewer and a subset of information relating to relevant cases via the Causeway Viewer.
Many other organisations concerned with Justice, in the public sector, are stakeholders in Causeway. Their interests are taken into account in Causeway operations.
How Causeway works
Globally Causeway is a data sharing mechanism that has improved the performance and enhanced the interconnection of the Northern Ireland criminal justice organisations by the e-sharing of common information through end to end technical and business processes.
The Causeway system is a strategically important database and data sharing messaging service providing an integrated system supporting information sharing between the Criminal Justice Organisations' line of business systems and generates the Northern Ireland Criminal History database
Vision
Causeway’s vision is that all the information shared within the criminal justice system will be accurate, consistent, up to date and accessible electronically by the staff that need to use it.
Aim
To transform the effectiveness and efficiency of the justice system by maintaining and developing electronic information sharing, which will reduce re-keying, duplication, photocopying and time spent passing information between justice organisations.
Management
The Causeway Management Board is accountable to the Justice Minister and is chaired by the Deputy Director, Criminal Justice Policy and Legislation Division. Day to day business delivery for Causeway falls under the remit of the Criminal Justice Policy and Legislation Division and operational delivery is the responsibility of Information Services Division.