Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Rabbitte seems to think the more anti-social behaviour orders are made the more successful is the system. I disagree on the basis that the concept of this procedure is that it is used in an incremental way. Fewer orders and a reduction in the number of occasions the Garda Síochána brings young people before the courts is a hallmark of the success of the system. Deputy Rabbitte is trying to encourage the Garda Síochána to serve ASBOs on every child who comes before it, whereas if the Garda interact with them and their families before it gets to the stage of bringing children to court the situation will be improved.

The idea was to prevent children from going into the criminal justice system. This is a civil procedure designed to allow a little more flexibility in terms of how one interacts with children. I am very supportive of the fact that we should divert children away from the criminal justice system and not bring them to court, penalise them or put them into prison and to use anti-social behaviour legislation to interact with them in a much more holistic way. It goes against the philosophy Deputy Rabbitte's party sometimes espouses for him to say that the more ASBOs that are implemented the more successful is the system. I disagree with him.

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