Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One of the gaps or points of concern in this area is that the Garda Youth Diversion Bureau in Harcourt Square makes the decisions as to whether to prosecute young people or to put them on the youth diversion programme. In this regard, one of the concerns I have had for many years is that when a referral is made, whether it is for a welfare referral, an anger management course, a sexual therapy course or whatever else, is I do not see the capacity in that office to audit such decisions and ensure that such actions were undertaken by Tusla. It is a quasi-judicial office in Harcourt Square that makes these decisions to prosecute young people and, as the Minister of State said, send them into the criminal justice system, with all the effects we know that has or does not have. If a decision is made to not prosecution because someone is going to be put on a course to allow them to, for example, manage whatever sexual feelings, in the case of sexual assault or in the context of a welfare referral, then there is a big gap if that office does not have the capacity to audit whether those referrals have actually taken place. I note that, to my knowledge, it remains the case that nobody from Tusla is situated in that office. This is something the section 44 committee has been highlighting for many years. I refer to overseeing the implementation of the effectiveness of the Garda youth diversion programme. I also note that the annual reports of the monitoring committee have not been published since 2019. I do not understand why that is, because they used to be published pretty efficiently.