Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

There is a problem with the Children's Court. From what I can ascertain, in up to 30% to 40% of cases guardians or parents do not present themselves with the accused in court. That is a gross neglect under the Children Act because we need to ensure there is a parent or guardian at the hearing when a juvenile is tried. That is a failing of some magnitude. We want to ensure that we have some parental or guardianship responsibility yet no-one attends with juveniles in court. That must be addressed to ensure some degree of responsibility is placed on somebody else, rather than solely on the offender, who is criminalised in the Children's Court.

Too often the Children's Court has not been taken seriously, but it is part of the criminal justice system. A person convicted in the Children's Court has a criminal conviction. In opposing the anti-social behaviour orders and acceptable behaviour contracts people have highlighted the fact that breach of an order criminalises young people. In fact, the current legislation allows for arrests and children being brought before the Children's Court so the child is criminalised anyway.

Community policing needs to be introduced in a forceful manner. We all reminisce about the old days when the local garda lived in the station and knew everybody in the area. There used to be a few more gardaí living in the area and they all knew members of the community. Unfortunately community policing is seen as the bridesmaid of policing, or to be politically correct, the best man of policing. We have to ensure that community policing becomes a central focus of the activities of the Garda Síochána. We should start at the top by having an Assistant Garda Commissioner, responsible for community policing. There should be a promotional structure from the junior ranks of the Garda Síochána. If a garda is interested in community policing and works with the community, he or she has to come back into the mainstream and show credentials in crime detection and legislative enforcement if he or she wants to progress. We are losing the experience of community police officers as they move into mainstream policing and progress through the ranks if they are capable. That is something that needs to be examined.

Local authorities have a responsibility to design estates with amenities, facilities and green spaces at planning stage of a development process. There should not be alleyways leading into dark areas at the back of houses. Estates that are genuinely conducive to a good community environment should be built. For many years estates were built with no provision of amenities and the houses were badly designed. There were dark alleyways and a lack of proper infrastructure to give a proper ambiance to the community. The physical well-being of an estate has an effect on how people see their community and on whether people take pride in their community. Local authorities must be more proactive so that when applications come in they take these factors into account.

For many years we have blamed social deprivation, unemployment and poverty. Coupled with badly-designed housing estates, it is a recipe for disaster and this has proven to be the case. We are now involved in regeneration, dismantling apartment blocks and rejuvenating areas. Some of the apartment blocks being built around our cities are destined to become ghetto developments because of bad planning and design. Local authorities have a role to play.

In some areas the Garda Síochána regularly meet public representatives and community associations. This should be put on a more permanent footing. Members of the Garda Síochána should be very involved in their communities. They should attend schools, speak to young people, get involved in soccer, GAA and rugby clubs, and youth groups. In this way gardaí would be part and parcel of a community. Community is not just about driving up and down an estate in a Garda car or on a bicycle, or walking the beat. Gardaí must interact, and must be part of the fabric of the community. That is something not allowed by the transient nature of community policing, where a garda spends two or three years in an area and is just beginning to build up contacts when he or she is whisked off to mainstream policing.

There is an element of despondency in how people view our criminal justice system. People think there will be a technical problem so that a case will be dismissed. In Cork there was an appeal against a conviction and the person was released. That is the system we have but it undermines confidence. I welcome the broad thrust of the Bill, which has given me the opportunity to speak on the issues of anti-social behaviour. I hope the Minister takes on board the views expressed regarding the provisions for fighting anti-social behaviour in the community.

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