Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It is difficult to figure out how it actually came about but I do not have the time to go into that. I have a number of other issues I want to raise with the Commissioner.

With regard to the appropriation accounts, there is a reference on page 5 to the Garda youth diversion programme. I have been looking at the crime statistics and what happens with a formal caution or whether somebody is unsuitable. I am a great believer in the juvenile liaison officer, JLO, system and diverting young people. We know that not every young person who commits a crime is suitable to go into the JLO system, however. On page 5, it states:

An internal review of youth referral incidents, deemed suitable for inclusion into the Garda Youth Diversion Programme, found a significant volume of cases were not processed to an appropriate conclusion by members of An Garda Síochána in the period January 2010 to July 2017. A victim engagement consultation process was initiated to proactively engage with all concerned external stakeholders.

I may be wrong, but that reads as if there were people who should have been progressed through the criminal justice system and who were not in the JLO system, and there were victims of crime who felt aggrieved by the fact that did not happen. Is that a correct reading of that situation? If so, what kinds of numbers are we talking about?