Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)

I am just wondering what the alternative is. I take the point that children might not have capacity, and I am equally concerned about children at this moment in time. Recently I attended a conference discussing human trafficking and children between the ages of seven and ten being used to traffic drugs. The average age when these children are expected to start selling the drugs is between ten and 12. I believe there is an element of protection in this. There is also the issue of particularly heinous and very severe crime and the capacity issue. I am also very conscious of the victims who have been subject to a particularly cruel and maybe deadly offence. What do we do with a child at the age of ten, 11, 12 or 13 when something like this happens?

I had a little bit of an issue at the mention of welfare and that if a child behaves in such a manner it is a child welfare issue. This indicated to me that it was maybe the parents' fault or society's fault. I would like clarity on this. If we do not have legal recourse, what do we do with a child who has committed a serious offence or repeated offences? Perhaps restorative justice or rehabilitation might not work in certain cases. If there is no possibility of bringing the child before the courts, what do we do with that child?