Ms Helen Hall:

It is a critical issue. We would have seen it in our own work in overseeing the youth diversion programme, where there were some difficulties with there not being a consistent referral of people, and the importance of diverting people into precisely what Deputy Burke is talking about. Sometimes we hear from the gardaí and communities that it actually needs to go further and extend to primary school children in some areas because the organised crime gangs are becoming more directed at and are targeting younger children, particularly those who cannot be prosecuted, to do some of their running. Children need to be diverted and I would say that the gardaí are doing an immense amount of work.

During Covid some of the youth services closed, which in a way is a learning. In the second phase of Covid lockdown, they were considered more of an essential piece because there were some children who were not getting into those sort of programmes. They were stuck at home in situations where they should not have been. That is where I see the ambition of the new Bill in terms of community safety and trying to get people much further upstream. Why is someone in the court now? Is it something that could have been addressed by investment in education or investment in the poverty situation he or she is in? It is a complex issue but if agencies work together they could support children who are quite young and divert them into education before they ever get near that, or support a family so that they do not live in poverty. Much more is involved.

The gardaí are picking up the impact of some of the societal pieces downstream. Going back to the Bill, the multi-agency piece could be a very significant change. Personally, I do not believe it fulfils the ambition for community safety that was envisaged by the Commission on the Future of Policing but - going back to me being an optimist - I believe it will help. When looking at the Bill, it is something to keep an eye on. Is that powerful enough to make the sort of changes the Deputy is suggesting?