Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

These amendments would require the Child and Family Agency to be notified of every excluding order application in respect of a person less than 18 years old and multi-agency involvement as a prerequisite for the making of such an order. The granting of every excluding order involves striking a balance between the rights of the respondent and the rights of the local community. The adjudication as to the balance to be struck in an individual case is most appropriately determined by the court, and the court should not be influenced in striking that balance by a statutory provision giving the rights of one party priority over the rights of the other party.

I want to explain exactly what an excluding order for a minor can and cannot do. In the first place, under an amendment to the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997 included in the Bill, an excluding order cannot exclude a minor from the family home, which is critically important. What it can do is exclude a minor from being in another house or a place, such as a green area or a set of local shops, where anti-social behaviour is known to take place.

It is reasonable for housing authorities, as responsible statutory social landlords, to have a power to exclude minors who have engaged in anti-social behaviour from places in the locality where the opportunity and temptation to repeat such behaviour is greatest. It is not necessary for housing authorities to have to consult a range of agencies to exercise what is essentially an estate management tool, which does not have the effect of removing the minor concerned from either his or her home or locality. I recognise that the minor’s involvement in anti-social behaviour may be symptomatic of deeper problems that are beyond the role or capacity of housing authorities to deal with. That is why I intend to consult the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs about policy alignment of the excluding order provisions with the policies set out in the Children Act 2001 and communications protocols with relevant agencies in the operation of these provisions by housing authorities. We have had some discussion already, and I accept that the Senator's intention is that the problems the young person is experiencing will cross areas other than the particular issue being dealt with in the excluding order. However, I stress that they are not being excluded from their community or their home. This is about the many communities experiencing problems with young people gathering in certain places. That is the intention of it. It does not go any wider than that.