Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will open my brief statement with a statistic. The 2016 census indicated that 375,000 or 3% of young people committed an offence annually. More than 50% of the cases before the courts involving youth crime are dismissed or struck out for being of a minor nature. That said, the kernel of the issue is that one's propensity to commit an offence is linked to one's socioeconomic status and, as such, there is a likelihood of reoffending. To tackle youth crime and associated issues, we must first combat poverty and deprivation.

When gathering my thoughts, I listened to other speakers and I heard many key words that are always used in such debates. I refer to "prevention" and "early intervention". I commend the strategy. The Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, has emphasised that children who have been identified as being hard to reach are the focus of the plan, and that a never-give-up strategy will be adopted. It is very important to acknowledge that the Minister of State is trying to reach out to those who are worst affected.

From my perspective as a teacher for many years, the issue is intertwined with education. From teaching for 12 years in the town of Fermoy in east Cork, I can see the benefit of a good community garda and a good sergeant in the area who used the school to his advantage to access children, get their attention and deal with them, not necessarily on any criminal issue, but to touch base with them and to keep in touch. It is very important as part of any strategy that we emphasise the importance of education in preventing or solving any of these problems.

We have Garda diversion programmes in Cork city. On my side of the city, Knocknaheeny-Hollyhill is unfortunately the location of one of those programmes. Given the issues that we have on that side of the city, we could use more such programmes. We are lucky enough in that we have five or six such programmes across Cork, but the fact that there is only one in Knocknaheeny-Hollyhill must be addressed.

As a teacher, I understand the importance of the school completion programme and the home school community liaison officers we have in schools. If we were to ask any of the children involved with those teachers, many of them would acknowledge the importance of having the one good influence or teacher at school that is looking out for them. In many cases, it is the one good adult those children might have in their lives. It is important that the programme would continue to be rolled out and expanded in the future in disadvantaged schools participating in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, programme.

Several Deputies mentioned the sports capital grant. My understanding is that in next week's budget, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, will announce a substantial increase for the sports capital fund. That will be most welcome. Many of the interventions will be targeted at urban settings and inner city areas, which would be great. The one plea I make, not just to the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, but in particular to the Minister for Education – I have done this repeatedly – is about schools and community buildings. They are large recipients of State funding and we do not get bang for our buck in that regard. The buildings are not utilised as best they could. Schools must make facilities available in order that local children can come in to use a facility or a building that is ancillary to a school, be it a sports hall, swimming pool, pitch or AstroTurf pitch. The buildings should be accessible at all hours of the evening and not just close at 3.30 p.m. in the day when the schools close. That is something we must address.

For me, the visibility of drugs is a massive issue. It became more apparent during lockdown when it was more visible on the streets. If a young person of 12 or 13 can see that happening around the corner in their local area, it will have an impact on him or her. It is vital to reduce the visibility of drugs on the streets. Previous speakers, from Dublin in particular, have spoken about obvious drug taking on the streets and children being used as mules. Those issues are also impacting young people in Cork.

Knife crime was mentioned and gratuitous violence. I heard Deputy Jim O'Callaghan on television during the week. He put it quite eloquently. He said that as a society we must tackle why young boys in particular feel the need to show bravado or machismo by carrying or wielding a knife, inflicting violence or pain or targeting somebody in some way. As a society, we have a lot to ask ourselves about how we address that issue and why a certain sector of society seems to think that is acceptable behaviour.

The Minister of State and I have had private discussions on knife crime in the past 12 months. A zero-tolerance policy is the best approach when it comes to knife crime. I accept that sentences for knife crime have increased from one year to five years. There was a serious incident in Cork last week where a 15-year-old was stabbed at 2 a.m. on Saturday night. The issue is becoming more prevalent. The crimes are becoming more violent and the repercussions on the victims are lifelong and, in many cases, visible for all to see.

Many of these children are the first to fall out of education. Given the current building crisis and the problem we have with trades, there is a perfect opportunity to try to direct as many affected youths as possible towards getting a trade and becoming, for example, a plumber or electrician. That could help matters in the future.

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