Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I pay particular tribute to our justice spokesperson, Deputy O'Callaghan, on bringing this important motion forward. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle would know about his work in engaging with communities throughout Ireland over the past 18 months. He has toured Ireland, he has met communities in local parish halls to speak about this issue and his diligent work in attending these large public gatherings where a lot of what has been articulated on juvenile crime and on rural crime and so forth, was taken away by him and it informs much of the his contribution to the debate and the motion.

The Deputy referred to the youth diversion programme and the 158,521 youth referrals that the review examined relating to 57,386 individual children. Those figures should shock many people. When it comes to the issue of juvenile crime and the pursuing those who perpetrate it through the criminal justice system, we have had experiences in County Meath which have left us aghast. One shocking incident hit the front pages of all the national and local newspapers, and dominated local radio shows on LMFM as well as "Liveline".

Deputy O'Callaghan referred to serious crimes. There was an horrendous attack on the son of our mayor in Navan, Councillor Tommy Reilly. He was savagely beaten in his own shop, not by a group of armed men, but by a group of six thugs who were juveniles. They kicked him repeatedly in his body and while he lay on the ground, they took a glass vase and beat him around the head with it. Why did they do so? Were they robbing his shop? No, it was just pure thuggish behaviour. It took his father, Mayor Tommy Reilly, to jump in and pull them off his son who at this stage lay battered and bruised on the ground. The Garda was called to the scene but before Mr. Reilly’s broken body had even been placed on a bed in the emergency department in Our Lady's Hospital Navan, the Garda had released the one suspect they had pulled over on the side of the road for a chat. While the brain scans were ongoing, the thugs who beat his son savagely were walking the streets. It took a massive public outcry after pictures of these heinous scenes were splashed across national newspapers in the following days and discussed on radio for days on end to spark action to be taken. In the eyes of the State, this was a crime carried out by children. That term frustrates the life out of people.

The statistics Deputy O’Callaghan set out show that many of the young offenders who were not progressed through the Garda Youth Diversion Office subsequently became involved in serious crime. As he said, it is working correctly in some instances but not in all. It is simply not acceptable that 8,000 children did not progress to the youth diversion programme and if that had been done properly, there would be an admission of guilt, work would be done with a liaison officer and the system would be more efficient. We would not have a system whereby those involved in what I would call heinous crimes to begin with, progress on to even more heinous crimes such as attacks on persons, drug crime or other crime.

All Deputies will agree, no matter what party they are in, that if one goes into any housing estate in any of our respective towns, it is not just the crime sprees that these young juvenile thugs are involved in that are the problem; it is the intimidation that these people inflict on entire areas that is just as serious. That intimidation can be just as destructive to the lives of law-abiding citizens and it is frustratingly difficult for the Garda to deal with. Indeed, at the height of last summer when temperatures were soaring, many green areas on housing estates were turned into "no go" areas because gangs of juveniles took to claiming them for themselves to turn into outdoor drinking venues. On one particular estate in Navan, the fallout from a drink-fuelled evening saw them turn on each other as temperatures soared in their heads and they decided to go at each other with hatchets. The Garda armed response unit had to be called to restore order and it resulted in the road into the estate being sealed off. If these lads want to hack each other to pieces with axes, there are many who I met that evening who would have let them at it but the lives of innocent people were put at risk as well as the lives of the gardaí who were dispatched to deal with the incident. I am sick of these young thugs being let away scot free. There is a need for consequences for their actions, as stated by the Policing Authority. The call this evening for an increased and sustained investment in the juvenile diversion programme is needed and we need to stand with our communities, who in so many cases have had their lives ruined by juvenile thugs.

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