David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. McNally and am again taken with the level of co-operation between the Probation Service and the other services, something that should be developed further.

I represent the ACJRD, the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development. It is a non-governmental, non-profit-making organisation that seeks to promote the reform, development and effective operation of the Irish criminal justice system. It comprises organisations and individual professionals from the criminal justice system. The views represented in this presentation are those of ACJRD in its independent capacity and are not those of its member organisations or their employers.

As the committee has heard, gangland activity, including killings, is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. It does not have a simple cause or solution and no single agency can provide a solution to the problem on its own. Tackling gangland activity will require a multifaceted, multi-agency approach which will require inter-agency co-operation and collaboration at local, national and international levels.

Public perceptions of gangland homicide support a strong link to the drug trade, but other motivating factors include social, economic, psychological and family factors. Empirical research and anecdotal evidence from youth and community workers indicate that the drug market is a factor in gangland activity. Gangs are ingratiating themselves into communities, targeting vulnerable individuals and instilling fear into individuals in the community.

Children as young as 15 either are on the periphery of gangs or have already been recruited by them for drug dealing and even tiger kidnappings. Recent research by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs and Alcohol suggests that this activity has, for the most part, been unaffected by law enforcement. In order to tackle the problem, early intervention is required at community level. We need to involve local communities and their leaders in any interventions, particularly those individuals working on the ground who understand the problems.

An essential key for the success of any intervention will be providing a safe and secure environment for participants. To this end, we need a strong Garda presence in the community to provide public order and safety, and to control anti-social and offending criminal behaviour. Although policing on its own cannot resolve the problems, it is needed to allow other interventions the opportunity to work.

The ACJRD recommends the following. We need to develop a national collaborative strategic approach to combating gangland activity and violence. We need to review the implementation of the Criminal Justice Acts that were particularly focused on gangland crime. There should be a focus on community-based initiatives that encourage education, economic and social development and community safety partnerships. Examples of these include the Ballymun and Limerick regeneration projects, the National Collective of Community-Based Women’s Networks, and projects such as Garda community liaison schemes, juvenile diversion schemes and other projects outlined earlier.

We need to encourage at-risk communities to report criminal activities to An Garda Síochána. This will require an improvement of confidence and trust in An Garda Síochána and the criminal justice system. We need to continue to develop the witness security programme and introduce a robust victim support programme. We need further training for members of An Garda Síochána that will assist in fostering understanding and in the delivery of services to at-risk communities and to witnesses to and victims of crime.

We need to review the Planning and Development Act 2000 with a view to insertion of crime prevention strategies. We need to introduce programmes and policies into the school curriculum that will assist communities in the prevention of crime. We need to share knowledge by establishing a knowledge hub to track offenders both within the communities and in prisons and child detention services.

We need to allocate funds to at-risk communities and those who wish to conquer their addictions and desist from offending. We need to promote relevant multidisciplinary and multifaceted research into the causes of gangland activity and its effect on communities. We need research into what works so that funding can be linked to outcomes.

With greater investment in community safety programmes, early intervention and community-based programmes for families in socially deprived areas, anti-social and offending behaviour by gangland criminals can be changed. Although the State cannot be expected to eliminate the motivation to offend, responses to the crime issue can be controlled. Ensuring that resources are available to support those who wish to conquer their addictions, increase their social capital and desist from offending is critical to redressing the harm caused within communities.

The key principles of success for these programmes and interventions are inter-agency co-operation at local, national and international level, a multifaceted approach to interventions, particularly educational community safety programmes, in-reach programmes for offenders in custody, robust enforcement of powers, and sufficient funding and resources to implement programmes and legislation. Confidence and trust in the law enforcement agencies is integral to any initiative to counteract gangland activity, as is a robust witness and victim support programme.