John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Deputy O'Callaghan, for tabling this motion, although it gives me no pleasure to speak on it. This is a very serious issue that does not reflect well on the professionalism of An Garda Síochána. However, the fact that the Garda Commissioner stated that this is a "humiliating professional failure" is at least an acknowledgement of the seriousness of the issue. I hope that acknowledgement is used to develop a proper understanding of what has happened here. We have been given some figures, to which I will allude presently, but as previous speakers indicated, the full report has not been made available. We need to understand how these mistakes happened, what caused them and how we can ensure that this type of thing does not happen again.

The scale of this is significant. The data provided from the review of the youth diversion programme covers the period from 2010 to 2017. A total of 158,000 youth referrals relating to 57,000 individual children were examined and the review found that 8,000 referrals had not been appropriately progressed. These figures are staggering. We are not talking here about an individual making a mistake. As other Deputies stated, this was systemic. It is really important that the report underpinning these figures be published in full. I have no doubt that this matter will be on the agenda of the Dáil again and we will be seeking further clarity and assurances that the lessons learned from this report are implemented to ensure that this type of thing cannot happen again.

This is not about statistics. These mistakes or failings have had a significant impact on many people. It is worth noting that 57 of the young offenders involved have died. We do not know the circumstances of their deaths but I suspect that some of them were probably drug-related. I also have a feeling that had they been identified and dealt with properly through the youth diversion programme, many could be alive today. Thousands of other young offenders were not processed properly and went on to reoffend in more serious ways. Again, their lives could have been significantly different had the system not failed them. We also have all the victims of their crimes. Had the young people involved in these 8,000 offences been detected and referred appropriately in the beginning, then thousands of people would not have been the victims of crime. The consequences of the failings are very significant.

The figures in this report relate specifically to information that was on the PULSE system. Others have stated - and I concur - that there is a serious concern that all crimes reported do not end up on the PULSE system for one reason or another. These figures, because they are based on PULSE data, are probably reflective of the minimum number of incidents. I suspect there are other offences that which place but which were not reported or recorded. When one attends joint policing committee, JPC, meetings, one hears details of reported crime statistics and so forth which often bear no resemblance to the experience on the ground.

In the context of drug dealing, juvenile crime has changed significantly. A decade or more ago, street dealing was done discreetly but is now done openly. Many of those involved in dealing drugs on our streets and in our parks are juveniles. I do not know if they feel that nothing is going to happen to them or that they will get away with it but they are causing untold damage to their own communities. I also understand that, as juveniles, they are victims themselves. The whole emphasis of drug dealing has shifted in terms of how it is happening in our communities and in the context of the response of An Garda Síochána. There was a time when we had community policing and local drugs units but the numbers in those units have reduced drastically. This may be due to the fact that many Garda resources have been diverted to the national units. Make no mistake about it, communities are being devastated by on-street drug dealing which results in fear, intimidation, harassment and anti-social behaviour and we must look at how the resources of An Garda Síochána are deployed to tackle it.

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