Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

Interaction with these families is the means by which we can affirm to young people in difficulty that they have their own importance and worth. Many of those who end up in trouble cannot read, write or communicate properly. These are the young people who never received support in their family homes. It is possible to identify the children and families at risk at primary school level. The families appearing before the District Court today will be the same families appearing before it in 20 years time. We must get to the root of these problems by supporting children who do not receive any support at home. We must affirm their worth and identity in order to ensure they become fully functioning members of their communities.

There must be an increased emphasis in schools on out-of-hours activity. Likewise, there must be an improved provision of recreational and sporting facilities in local authority housing estates. Young people must have access to better support services, which would involve not only social workers but also people who work with and like young people and who can be role models for them. This type of approach, even in these most difficult of times, is the best way to address the inequalities in our society and the problems arising in communities throughout the State. I have passed through Limerick city many times but do not know it well. Significant changes are taking place there under the former manager of Dublin City Council and the excellent committee for whom I have nothing but the height of praise. There must be more of that approach in disadvantaged communities throughout the State.

We should look again at the role of the Garda, particularly community gardaí. What is important about the latter is that everybody in the community knows them by their first name. They walk around the area rather than travelling in squad cars. Most important, they identify with the community they serve. That is the type of policing we need. Rather than an oppressive authority figure, the local garda should be somebody who will help people, offer them advice, get them involved in the local boxing club and so on. These are the types of links we must build within communities. In their absence, we will continue to have drug-ridden and crime-ridden areas in our cities and towns. In these difficult economic times, it is particularly important that we provide support to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who are likely to end up in conflict with the law.

There must be a focus on community supports, interaction with schools, the provision of youth and sports facilities and efforts to counteract antisocial behaviour. We must increase the numbers working full-time in education and youth work and support them in their work. What a child from a background of crime needs above all is a friendly face. Such children must be brought into society via education and other means. In the absence of such intervention, a child of nine, ten or 11 years of age, who is without parents or whose parents are disinterested, unsupportive and offer no affirmation of the child's worth to society, will become isolated and will turn against the system. Their only pleasure will be from drugs and crime.

When I was spokesperson for community, rural and Gaeltacht affairs, I made it my business to meet staff and clients in some of the drug support centres in Dublin city. I met former heroin addicts and people who had done time in prison. I went to the drugs court where I met families who were trying to break the drug habit. Although this court required significant resources in terms of teachers, gardaí, youth workers and so on, it was very satisfying to see people being presented with certificates to signify their success in breaking their drug addiction. These were people who had been convicted in the courts of a crime not involving violence and who, instead of going to jail, had opted to beat their habit. Judge Gerard Haughton of the District Court affirmed the achievements of these people, who had pleaded guilty to their crimes and overcome their drug addiction, thus indicating their desire to re-enter society, by declaring them full and excellent members of our society and affirming their goodness and worth.

Such a process takes a great deal of time and effort but it is already working successfully in this instance. If we have that type of fair and progressive attitude towards people who want to escape a life of crime and drugs, and who have not been convicted of any offence involving violence, much can be achieved. On the other hand, the perpetrators of the appalling and evil crimes we are discussing today represent the other side of the equation. We are 100% behind what has to be done and so is all of society.

Legislation must be balanced. We cannot allow further generations of families to find themselves in the same situation. In five, ten, 15 or 20 years, we do not wish to see people before the courts of Limerick and Dublin with different first names but the same surnames as those before the courts today. We must break that cycle.

See this speech in context