Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman. I wish him good luck in the new gig. He looks very comfortable in that chair.

I welcome the debate on the strategy. I commend the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, on the huge work he has put into the strategy. I join others in commending Deputy Stanton. Way back, we were both on the justice committee and I know he has taken an interest in this. I say well done to my colleague, Deputy McAuliffe, who has led the way on scrambler legislation. I was listening to Deputy Howlin's speech and I fear the strategy will get lost in the silos our civil servants love, so as to avoid action and radical change. We cannot let that happen on this occasion because by avoiding action and radical change, lives will be wasted. Opportunities will not be taken. Communities will be wasted. There are so many linkages here. It is with the Department of Justice but this must link into an apprenticeship strategy, education strategy and to school completion; it must look at the serious challenge of addiction, the completely underestimated and misunderstood scale of the drugs challenge facing every single community on this island and every single member of those communities, but especially young people. There are the issues around social media and the impact that is having on our young people. I too commend An Garda Síochána on its work on the youth diversion programme and the youth awards. However, they need far greater support. There must be far greater co-ordination and cohesion. There are so many Departments which keep washing their hands of this challenge. Now the strategy is there it must be driven hard. Deputy Howlin is right in saying there must be a Cabinet committee driving this on because otherwise this will not happen, no matter how good our intentions are in the House this evening.

We also must be realistic about integrating our new communities and the new Irish communities into this strategy and ensure they have the same opportunities. How does somebody who is in direct provision get the kind of opportunities we envisage for all our citizens with respect to education and healthcare? We must be proactive and aggressive in presenting the opportunities to those communities as well. In the last number of months, there has been a far greater focus and concentration on antisocial behaviour as we come out of the pandemic. We must wake up to that before something serious happens. Right around this country people are being injured on a nightly basis. However, it is not just the preserve of young people. There are older people involved too but young people seem to get branded with this tag at all times. Unless this strategy is driven and driven hard I am afraid another Dáil will be here again in ten years, discussing the same problems, which will by then be deeper; there will be the same lack of opportunities, which may be worse, and the same challenges facing our country. This must be driven on a cross-departmental basis. No Department and no agency can hide.

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