Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague and constituency partner, Deputy Ward, for tabling this important motion. We have had lots of discussions in our society about how Covid-19 has impacted various sections of our population but we probably have not discussed enough the very negative impact it has had on our young people. It is really important we do not as a society demonise young people because the past seven months have been exceptionally difficult for many of them. The closure of schools, the temporary loss of youth services, the closure of sporting clubs and the suspension of other activities have put an enormous strain on young people, particularly the younger cohorts. This does not in any way excuse antisocial behaviour, no matter its level of seriousness. However, when we have spoken to hard-working community gardaí and youth workers on the front line, as I am sure other colleagues have, they tell us they have noticed that Covid-19 has had an impact on a wider section of young people than we would often talk about in these debates. The loss of structure and routine in their lives has left many young people vulnerable to forms of activity which would not necessarily be the way they would ordinarily behave. Front-line youth services in particular are chronically underfunded. I see in the House Deputies from a range of Dublin constituencies and in every one of them, from Finglas and Ballymun to the north inner city to the south inner city and to Deputy Ward and me in the west, our front-line services do not have enough funding to provide good quality activity for young people to be involved in. The National Youth Council of Ireland is calling on the Government to increase the youth work services budget in budget 2021 significantly.

We have incredible sports facilities run in the main by voluntary groups. In my constituency there is the Esker boxing club, Clondalkin Celtic FC, Knockmitten United FC and there are all our Gaelic athletic clubs the length and breadth of the country. Again, however, they are chronically under-resourced because our local authorities, one of the main sources of community funding, are themselves underfunded in this area of activity. I wish to make very clear that the very best antidote to antisocial behaviour, particularly for the vast majority of young people who might be tempted to get involved in it, are positive, pro-social activities within their communities, properly resourced with the infrastructure, the full-time staff and the support for volunteers. That needs to be part of the focus.

My colleague, Deputy Ward, is absolutely right that our other problem is the lack of proper investment in community gardaí. What is important about community gardaí is that they are not the heavy hand of the law; they are the soft, proactive, preventative community policing. Young people get to know their community gardaí and engage with them on the streets through inter-league soccer matches etc. to address these problems. I therefore urge Government Deputies to support the spirit and letter of this motion to ensure we get that additional investment.

I wish to make an appeal to young people and their parents. I ask them to be mindful of their neighbours, the pensioners, the children with special needs and people with pets, all of whom are wholly negatively affected by this phenomenon. I ask them to have respect for the people in their communities because if we work together we will ensure a better quality of life for everybody: more investment in youth services, more investment in sports and more investment in community gardaí. Let us look after one another and not make one another's lives more difficult.

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