John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity, as do my colleagues, to contribute to these statements on youth justice strategy. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, and commend both her and my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, on the energy they have brought to their particular portfolios since their appointment last year. They have made a difference.

My constituency, Dublin South-West, is colourful both politically, in terms of the representation it returns, and demographically, in the context of the reasonably and moderately wealthy suburbs to suburbs with significant challenges and needs of which it is made up. I do not mean to stereotype these places because there are challenges in every community, but I often wonder what it is like to be Irish in 2021 if you are from the parts of west Tallaght that I represent. If you were defining what it is like to grow up in Ireland or setting out how you see Ireland as a young person growing up in these areas, how would you describe it? Descriptions in this regard are certainly worth eliciting.

Perhaps this is a project that the Minister of State might fund for young people in these areas to allow them to articulate answers to questions such as: "What it is like for me to be Irish where I live?"; "How do I see the world?"; "How does the world see me and how does it respond to me?"; "What are my chances and my opportunities here?"; "What are the obstacles to me fulfilling my potential here?"; "What things get in my way?"; "What are the institutional pieces of architecture that support me hugely in my youth?"; What is lacking and where am I let down?"; "From where do I not get support?"; "Who stands in my way?"; "Who abuses me?"; "Who understands me?; and "Who is it that does whatever they can to ensure that I can achieve my potential as a human being?"

I have no doubt that there would be incredibly positive answers in there as well as some surprising and very challenging answers for society. For that reason, I believe that there needs to be a much stronger voice from children and young people in this strategy and that it needs to be tapped into on a pretty continuous basis. There is a lot of top-down stuff, notwithstanding the best will in the world of the agencies involved. We need those agencies to engage more with the young people they are trying to support. There are increasing supports in this approach of the national youth justice strategy, which I welcome. Any increase in supports for young people, and particularly in my constituency, are to be welcomed.

Reference was made to the Garda youth diversion project. It is hugely welcome that this is to be enhanced to cater, in particular, for children with additional and more complex needs. As a public representative, one also comes across the other tools that are open to the Garda, such as antisocial behaviour orders - the famous ASBOs. There are a lot of gardaí, and newer recruits in particular, who do not know what an ASBO is. It is one of those measures to try to intervene with the family and to educate its members to the effect that they have responsibility. As the Garda superintendent, the chief superintendents and the sergeants on the ground will tell us, these will actually work where there is a good strong family structure and where the parents and guardians are on the same page as the Garda. These measures, however, simply will not work for those kinds of structures are not in place and where the family fabric may not be as strong and needs a lot more support. I would like the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, to bring this back to the Garda Commissioner. I have encountered this, not once but twice, and it was used. In some cases, it is used quite effectively. It is a tool that is there to be used, and not just during Covid. We are coming up to Hallowe'en, a time when antisocial behaviour can occur when youngsters are gathered together. This is where community gardaí come in because they know the communities. We need a lot more community gardaí. They are able to separate the leaders from the herd. There are usually just two, three or four leaders in a group and gardaí on the ground who have the relevant knowledge know who they are. It is about engagement with younger people and the Garda and other bodies being aware of the powers and tools that they have available.

Over the course of four years in opposition as my party's spokesperson on Dublin, I raised the issue of scramblers. Finally, the Government is getting to grips with this. I welcome that and it is now up to the Minister for Transport to provide that last little piece of meaningful legislation. That is the stick, but there also needs to be a carrot. Why not have a diversionary element to that? I am aware that the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, has funding available for projects in a number of communities that have been badly affected by those using scramblers in different ways. I am aware that in Deputy McAuliffe's constituency it was happening on the streets and in my own constituency was happening it is in fields and parks. It has manifested itself in different ways.

The final issue I will raise is Garda numbers. I do so specifically in the context Tallaght Garda station. Tallaght is the same size as Limerick. This is an old chestnut. I do not know how many Garda stations there are in Limerick city and Limerick county. While I do not want more Garda stations, I do want more resources.

The final point I will make, and I thank the Acting Chairman for his forbearance, is about the visibility of drug use and drug distribution, which undoes every measure that the Government and statutory agencies bring forward. It is a theme I will return to again.

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