Ms Bernie Meally:

Absolutely. To address Deputy Wallace's comment on schools, my view is that it takes a village to raise a child. It is not just about schools and the family of origin. All members of the community should be involved in raising young people. The Deputy is right that there are major opportunities within the education system to build skills in young people and to inspire and motivate those young people to be very active, positive citizens and to promote civic responsibility. Where communities work well, all community agencies are involved. Youth work and the education system work hand in hand.

In our experience with Garda youth diversion projects, schools are very much part of the work we do with young people. They help us to assess the risks and needs of young people. In many cases, education is a major risk. A risk factor related to offending for young people is non-engagement in school, negative engagement in school or leaving school entirely. Youth services, statutory services and other services work very hard with schools. Most schools engage really well but there are other major opportunities. The reality is that a school is constrained by a curriculum which it has to abide by. The opportunities for youth work and community work complement the work that takes place in school at a pace that is reflective of the stage the young person has reached. We can respond directly to his or her needs and tailor the programmes or interventions that we carry out with him or her entirely based on that young person's circumstances. We all have a role in building skills for these young people. That includes the Garda and every other agency present.

I did not address a comment made by Deputy Daly earlier but would like to do so now. She posed a question about asking what we do and who we go to when a young person is in difficulty. She also asked about multi-agency or interagency working. Our experience has been that those working directly with young people are interested and willing to try to work together when a crisis occurs. The issue that we have found is that there is sometimes a lack of communication at departmental level, and that has an impact on how we can and do work together. It has caused many frustrations for front-line workers who see massive needs and possible opportunities to work together and support each other, but there is not necessarily joined-up thinking at departmental level.