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

We need to do more in respect of robbery and burglary in particular to try to deter repeat offenders. In this regard, will the Minister reflect on the proposals put forward by Fianna Fáil in our Bail (Amendment) Bill 2017? In terms of the broader picture, all of us in the House need to recognise that if a young boy is incarcerated in a juvenile detention centre before he is 18 the likelihood is that when he becomes a man he will be incarcerated in a prison for committing criminal offences. We need to target boys and young men to try to deter them from a life and path of criminality. Unfortunately, it is the case that many of these young men come from disadvantaged communities and chaotic family backgrounds with parental addiction. They also get involved in the drugs business at a young age, in terms of distributing and following orders from serious gangland criminals in drug gangs. We need to start a campaign of education and information for young people to make them aware of the downside of being involved in a life of crime. We need to make them aware there are far more opportunities available for them, and that there should be opportunities available for them other than that life and the path of crime.

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