Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak about some pressing issues for young people. Children are the most vulnerable people in our society. Their well-being must be a fundamental aspect of how the State legislates and governs. If we do right by our children now, they will do right by this country in generations to come. For some time, reservations have been expressed about the manner in which our legal justice system deals with victims of child abuse who attempt to seek justice. A landmark report last week found that the criminal justice system as it stands is not serving victims of child abuse correctly. The report was produced by University College Dublin and the child abuse treatment units at Temple Street hospital and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children. It was presented at the Psychology Society of Ireland's annual conference in Killarney last week.

The report found that the legal system is at best inaccessible and at worst cruel to some of the most vulnerable in our society. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should take on board the report's findings and implement the necessary changes. Such victims are clearly being let down by the current process, which needs to be altered. We need to act sooner and more sensitively in this regard. An average wait of 15 months for a guilty plea to be heard in child abuse cases means victims and their families are under needless stress for almost two years. That is a long time during which one is unable to rebuild a young life. It is hard to see the justice in this.

I am also concerned at the finding that only one quarter of all victims had availed of specialist support before their cases opened. The trauma suffered by child abuse victims should not be compounded by their efforts to bring child abusers to justice. I hope the Minister will place significant importance on these findings and listen to the experts in the field who are calling for immediate reform.

The Government needs a wake up call regarding the abuse of drugs in the State. Drugs can be bought at every crossroads and the State is doing very little about it. In County Clare only three gardaí are deployed in the drugs unit, which is totally inadequate. More resources and more gardaí dedicated to tackling the drugs problem are needed, together with a genuine commitment from the Government.

The lack of facilities for young people is another issue that needs immediate attention. Many of us met and spoke with hundreds of young people in our constituencies during the recent general election campaign. The issue they raised repeatedly was the lack of facilities for them. The building boom has not been kind to our sports or recreational infrastructure which has fallen behind best European standards. Voluntary bodies are left to make up for the lack of direction or investment. This needs to be addressed. Sociologists have long outlined the benefits of better recreational and sports infrastructure in our communities and it is time the Government prioritised investment in this area and brought forward a new community development scheme to give communities access to funding.

How can we have faith in a Government which has demonstrated such little regard for our children in the area of education? The situation in Ballyea national school in my constituency, where funding has been withdrawn, is deplorable. A total of 159 children attend a school built for 80. A sum of €200,000 has been expended on the development of a temporary site but the funding has been suspended. It is difficult for us to ask our children to respect their environment as they grow, when the Government has such little respect for the daily environment of thousands of schoolchildren. It needs to cop on to the fact that an investment in our children is an investment in our future but that is not the case.

I would also like the Government to work on the issue of road safety as it pertains to our youth. Our schools are the best places to begin the dialogue with children about this issue. A programme entitled the Irish School of Excellence is used in schools in County Clare and elsewhere in Munster. However, it is not funded by the State. The Government should support this initiative and treat road safety with the importance it deserves.

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