James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions, not least those who made significant contributions to campaigning for this type of legislation, including the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, when she was in opposition, and Sinn Féin Deputies. I welcome the high level of interest and support from all the speakers for this important new legislation. I am encouraged by the recognition that the Bill will make a significant difference to the lives of vulnerable children who have been groomed into criminal activity and the broad support expressed for what will become a critical tool in the suite of measures available to tackle this serious issue.

The Bill will introduce important measures to deal with adults who groom children into a life of crime. It will, for the first time in Irish law, make it an offence for an adult to compel, coerce, direct or deceive a child for the purpose of engaging in criminal activity or for an adult to induce, invite, aid, abet, counsel or procure a child to engage in criminal activity. The Bill will specifically address the harm done by adults who groom children into criminal activity. Until now, the law has not recognised that there are two distinct sides to this type of crime, namely, the visible crime against the victim and the grave wrong against the child.

It is vital the legislation will be able to be used to be tackle all forms of crime into which children are groomed into carrying out. As I said yesterday, its provisions have been tailored to enable intervention at an early stage whenever possible. By choosing to define criminal activity, for the purposes of the Bill, as any type of activity that constitutes an offence, we have deliberately set the threshold at a low level. Taking this approach will enable the authorities to intervene before a pattern of offending can develop to the point where serious and long-lasting harm has been done to the child.

In certain other jurisdictions, a high bar is set before this type of child grooming law is engaged. Taking the example of the Australian legislation to which a number of Deputies referred, the crime committed by the child must be punishable by five years or more in prison. This means adults who groom children into crime cannot be prosecuted unless the crime carried out by the child is at the more serious end of the scale, which would exclude a lot of the lower level issues that surround, for example, drug-related crime. The new offences created through the Bill will not require that the child has ultimately carried out the crime or that he or she has been charged with or convicted of the crime. This will allow our authorities to concentrate their efforts on tackling the harm done to the child by grooming him or her into criminal activity rather than first having to prosecute the child.

The mandate the Bill will give to An Garda Síochána to intervene and take appropriate actions at a local level will mean the focus of its actions involving children will be more obviously on the reduction of harm and reducing the likelihood of offences being committed in the first instance. Gardaí locally will be able to strengthen their preventive interventions by spreading the message, both directly and through community leaders and organisations, that such behaviours are subject to the law and can be tackled if detected. Ultimately, preventing this cycle from taking hold, with these low-level, precursor criminal activities in the first instance, will contribute to the aim of preventing children from being drawn into crime.

Deputies raised several important points during the debates, some of which I will address in the time available. I look forward to discussing them in more detail on Committee Stage. The Bill will provide for a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison. Some Deputies noted the Australian legislation imposes a harsher penalty, of up to ten years in prison. It is important to be clear the grooming offences created in the Bill are distinct from any offence that may be committed by the child. Following consultation with the Office of the Attorney General with respect to proportionality, it was decided to set the maximum sentence at five years in prison. The grooming offences in the Bill will not remove liability from a person who grooms the child victim for any other offences that already exist in law. It is highly likely that where a person is prosecuted for this type of grooming, he or she will be also prosecuted under the existing law for the offence committed by the child. After the Bill has been enacted, it will be possible to prosecute the adult groomer for both the grooming and the criminal activity.

The issue of young adults over the age of 18 being liable to imprisonment for this offence where they are close in age to the child being groomed was also raised. It is well understood young adults can also be vulnerable to peer pressure and influence and may themselves be the victims of grooming. It has been suggested a minimum age gap between the adult and the grooming victim might be worth exploring, but there are other considerations. It is, unfortunately, the case that crimes are committed by young people. Whatever the approach taken to sentencing legislation, it must at least be possible to prosecute them when this happens. When cases such as this arise, it will be a matter for An Garda Síochána and the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, to decide how to proceed in each case. I acknowledge that in cases where the inciter is a family member, the consequences for the child could be severe and there could be challenges in prosecuting the adult. The courts have discretion, however, in both the fines and imprisonment options available. It will be a matter for the presiding judge to consider the circumstances of each case.

The Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use was raised by several Deputies, which I welcome because it shows how the new Bill will fit into the development of policy in this area. The recommendations that emerge from the citizens' assembly will inform future policy and operational changes that can be made to reduce the harmful effects of drugs on individuals, families and communities. The citizens' assembly will consider the lived experiences of people impacted directly by drugs, as well as their families and communities. The Bill will have a direct impact in this context by helping remove children from the influence of those who use them to commit offences including drug-related crime. Currently, more than 100 youth diversion programmes throughout the State provide suitable activities to facilitate personal development, promote prosocial behaviour and improve long-term employability prospects for participants.

I recognise the points made by Deputies yesterday regarding children who are groomed into criminal activity by family members and the significant toll this can take on the child. The national prevalence report of the award-winning Greentown project highlights that in many cases, younger adults who are not blood relatives of the child, specifically young men who live in the same locality, have the most influence over children in grooming a child into criminal activity when the child is not related to the leaders of the criminal gang. It is of utmost importance that these circumstances are accounted for and captured in legislation.

In the course of yesterday’s debate, several Deputies raised a question relating to the age of those targeted by the legislation and expressed their views on the age of criminal responsibility. This is not a matter to be addressed in the legislation but as part of the review of the Children Act 2001, which is an objective under the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027. The immediate harm done to a child by involving him or her in a crime will be directly addressed by the provisions in the Bill before us. The Bill will also help ensure the prospects of vulnerable children will be brighter by reducing the likelihood they will be groomed into criminal activity by adults.

The enactment of the Criminal Justice (Engagement of Children in Criminal Activity) Bill 2023 will send a strong message to communities that grooming children into criminal activity is not acceptable and can be tackled. It will address the involvement of children not only in the sale and supply of drugs but also in any other form of criminality, while still protecting those children who are involved in crime from further harm by limiting the offence to adults. I again acknowledge the contributions by the Deputies in the course of the debates and the broad cross-party support expressed for the Bill. I will be pleased to address any aspects of the legislation Deputies may wish to raise in the subsequent discussions.

See this speech in context