Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Garda youth diversion projects are funded by my Department through the Irish youth justice service and administered through the community relations section of the Garda Síochána. These projects are community based, multi-agency crime prevention initiatives which seek to divert young people from becoming involved, or further involved, in anti-social or criminal behaviour by providing suitable activities to facilitate personal development and promote civic responsibility.

The Garda Commissioner regularly brings forward proposals for the establishment of new Garda youth diversion projects. The locations for new projects are selected on the basis of factors such as the level of juvenile crime in the area and the number of young people referred to the local juvenile diversion programme.

The target envisaged under An Agreed Programme for Government for the number of Garda youth diversion projects is 168 by 2012. The interim target of 100 projects by the end of 2007 was achieved, with 29 new projects established that year. The Garda Commissioner indicated that it is anticipated that between 15 and 16 projects will be recommended for establishment each year over the next four years and that applications for 2008 will be forwarded to me later in the year.

Additional resources have been allocated to fund the expansion of these projects with funding set at €11.909 million for 2008 out of a total of €120 million allocated under the National Development Plan 2007-2013.

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