Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé an-bhuíoch d’Fhianna Fáil as ucht an deis labhairt ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo. I have regularly spoken about some of the activities in question, such as joyriding and the use of quads and scramblers in built-up areas and public parks. My constituency, Dublin North-West is affected by a high level of juvenile crime and anti-social activities. I have also spoken about the rise in the use of young people as drug mules. Juvenile crime and anti-social activity can be a source of great annoyance, stress, disruption and harm to our communities. It impacts mainly on families and the elderly and holds our communities virtually to ransom. My experience in Dublin North-West is that the Garda youth diversion projects have been quite successful and are a good way to tackle youth crime and anti-social activity.

This is why I find it very disappointing to learn that there has been a systems failure across the constituency as well as the country in that thousands of young people involved in crime and anti-social activity have managed to fall through the cracks of the judicial system and that these young people are seemingly almost untouchable. This has clearly had an impact on local communities and has added to the frustration they feel as they see some young people basically doing what they want and getting away with it. This perception of being untouchable can also encourage other young people to get involved in crime and anti-social activity without fear of any sanction. Immediate action needs to be taken by the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice and Equality to correct both the systems failure that has been identified and the human failures that have been exposed in this latest scandal.

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