Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

This is a follow on, in some respects, to the points made by Deputy Butterly.

One of the issues we hear about in policing debates is that of repeated violent and-or criminal acts being perpetrated by very young people who consider themselves to be outside the law. We have seen gangs of these types of young people who are clearly coming from deprived backgrounds, and there are other issues at play. However, from a policing perspective and a community safety perspective, there are huge challenges because there is an immunity there. If we were to expand that immunity, it would create challenges.

To repeat the question, what interventions can be made to deal with those types of issue? If you have a 13-year-old or a group of 13-year-olds who might be terrorising their own local community, the police feel they have no ability to intervene and no other statutory agency is, to be frank about it, stepping up to the mark, what is the answer in that respect?