Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is correct in stating there are robust provisions but they apply in respect of an assault being committed by an adult. If I am assaulted or the Minister is assaulted there will be issues in respect to that but it appears to be different when the assault is perpetrated on young teenage boys by young teenage boys. I read a report recently in The Sunday Timeswhich said there had not been prosecutions in respect of young persons who had been arrested on criminal charges. We need to look again at this issue. As the mother who telephoned said to me - perhaps I am entering dangerous territory - that if this was happening to young girls in the area there would be uproar about it but for some reason society seems to tolerate gratuitous criminal assaults on teenage boys. We have to send a message that this needs to stop, that it is unacceptable and it is not simply part of growing up. It is a criminal assault on young people and we need to deal with it.

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