Ms Bernie Meally:

The first point Deputy Ó Laoghaire made was about the tendering process for Garda youth diversion projects. When the call for proposal process - I believe that is the official title - was first announced in January, all of the community-based organisations that manage Garda youth diversion projects were very concerned. Our major concerns related to the suggested timeframe. There was a lot of consultation with gardaí, community-based organisations and front-line youth justice worker. Thankfully, the Irish Youth Justice Service, IYJS, has decided to delay that process. That was a very welcome development for all youth organisations, not just Foróige. It caused a lot of concern for a few months. We identified that rash decisions had the potential to have a wide-ranging and long-term impact. The delay is very welcome. The process now proposed involves research, and will take place from the end of 2018 and throughout 2019 and beyond. That research will identify the key benefits of a programme such as the garda youth diversion programme and the factors that make such a programme effective. If there is then a call for proposals, the IYJS will be very clear on what it is looking for and what has the best outcomes for young people. We welcome the decision to delay that process.

There was a general question about our experience with juvenile liaison officers and whether we are happy with them. Foróige and other community-based organisations delivering garda youth diversion projects work very closely with juvenile liaison officers and An Garda Síochána. They are an essential part of the system. The majority of young people who engage in a Garda youth diversion project are referred by their local juvenile liaison officer. In most cases it works very well. They have close and effective working relationships in many areas. There have been various challenges with working with juvenile liaison officers over the years. Work was done in 2017 to look at how Garda youth diversion projects and juvenile liaison officers could work together in a more effective manner. Resulting from a process of consultation and research, a number of guidelines were put together that outlined what the relationship should look like and how to get the most from it. We were finding that where people had a strong and positive personal relationship, the projects were operating very well. The correct young people were being referred in a timely manner and the information flow between the youth justice workers and gardaí was very good. People were happy to pick up the phone and have a chat about an incident, gather information on it and assess it well.

There were some areas where the flow of information and perhaps the relationship were not as good. Our research found that the issue between the projects and the juvenile liaison officer, JLO, simply concerned communication and understanding of roles and responsibilities. Consequently, the guidelines break down what a youth justice worker's or juvenile liaison officer's role is. We have found that this has helped to improve interaction and co-operation within the communities at a very practical level. There have been varying responses from young people and families we have worked with on how they feel about the Garda or the juvenile liaison officer. In many cases we find a young person is much more positively disposed to a juvenile liaison officer or a community garda, where they are present, than to any other garda in the community or in the Garda station.

Things are not perfect. There are several other issues. We would like to see a more comprehensive programme of training for JLOs. In the last few years the Garda youth diversion projects, GYDP, best practice initiative has done some work with the Garda bureau of community engagement on developing training specifically for juvenile liaison officers. Every JLO that comes into post receives that training, which helps them understand the issues and needs of a young person who is likely to offend. It helps support them in deciding on the most appropriate response to those young people. Sometimes that is a very informal response, and other times it is about going through a much more formal process. Training is an issue. We would love to see more training because there is a very particular skill set for a juvenile liaison officer, as there is for a community Garda. Not everybody is born with that skill set and it is really important that they are supported. It can absolutely be learned. It is important that good quality training is put in place to support JLOs in learning some of those skills.

Finally, I will address youth facilities, and a previous speaker's comment that there is not necessarily somewhere for young people to go so they hang around the streets. That is absolutely correct. There are deficits in facilities for young people in some communities. In other communities there are facilities but the young people or other community agencies may not be aware of them. As organisations, we have a responsibility to get out there and make sure that people know we are there.

However, the youth sector is really struggling, and has been for the last few years, because of very significant cuts to funding. The initial cut to the youth services grant scheme was 35%. There was a restoration of 7%. As such, funding for the youth services grant scheme is down 28% in the last several years. I am tempted to say that has been the case since 2008, but I could be mistaken in that. That has had a catastrophic impact on some of our services. That 28% amounts to more than €700,000. That sort of money is massive to a charity like ours and it has had serious impacts. We have lost jobs and we have not been able to replace people who have moved on. That means that we cannot provide front-line services to young people and families who need and deserve them. That is just the situation for Foróige. There are many other organisations and agencies which have been very drastically hit by those cuts as well.