Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Any time I am offered a mic I never refuse it. This was a very worthwhile engagement. It is worth reinforcing the point that there has to be real engagement with young people, as opposed to with me and Deputy Gannon. Remembering when I was young, I am not sure how representative I was of anybody back then. Deputy Toole mentioned that as well.

I have seen a fair amount of youth projects and youth workers. Some of the work that works best is when there are really good relationships, whether that is with the youth diversion projects or at some other level. Multiple projects are working out of them. Everybody is aware and then you have multiple referrals, not just those coming through from the Garda. We are now dealing with kids at an earlier stage and seeing some element of success. There are not enough resources and that includes everything else that is needed and family supports. I want to ask the witnesses about their engagements, be they with agencies or other projects such as justice-funded projects and so on. It is about us coming up with best practice so that we can have this in as many places as possible. That is necessary. Youth work is not a silo.