Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work that the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, is doing in regard to putting together a youth justice strategy. I spoke to gardaí in several Garda stations in this regard and they acknowledged it was difficult during Covid to have meaningful engagements with youths. However, now that sports are back and they are liaising with organisations like the GAA clubs, the schools, soccer clubs, camogie clubs and other groups outside of sport, they are having conversations and supporting many of the youth groups.

I know the strategy is designed to provide a development framework to address challenges, as well as new and emerging issues in the youth justice area. However, I am concerned that integration in communities is key to its success. Garda youth diversion projects throughout the country are working well but it is difficult to get exact numbers on how many have been set up and are operational. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could come back to me with the numbers on that.

In Limerick, Kilmallock has seen great success recently with age groups from 12 upwards involved in the Garda youth projects. Members of the Garda work with all stakeholders to ensure they have the best support for the young people they work with. There is, however, a massive shortage of youth workers in the Limerick area. The juvenile liaison officer does amazing work for young people who fall into the category of first offender, and works well with them.

Interestingly, all of those in the Garda stations that I spoke to referred to the isolation that many young people feel in their communities, with marginalisation and exclusion of those from certain backgrounds. For young people to be integrated into their communities, we need to be mindful of that. As I and others were growing up, we had peers in our communities who we looked to. If there were incidents or first offences or if a family member got into trouble, the first person people turned to was the garda. They could speak to the garda and that garda was able to relate to them, knew the person, knew the community, knew the families and knew everything about them. However, with the new Garda divisions, a lot of that has been lost because we do not have local gardaí in our areas. That goes to the resourcing of the Garda.

There is a massive problem at the moment with drugs in many of our cities, towns, villages and rural areas. We have seen that people are driving around in their big flash cars and they are even setting up businesses but they are drawing young people into this and letting them believe it is a life they can grow in. However, it is not a life they can grow in because they are going to be constantly watching their backs. These people are doing fierce damage to youths who are trying to get on with education or a trade. It is very hard for them to look at this and see them get away with it. That comes back to the number of gardaí we need on the ground to target such activity and to make sure that if people are involved in criminal activity, they will be dealt with. That then gives the other person a chance.

We spoke earlier about the discretion of a garda. The discretion of a garda in communities is huge when it comes to the first-time offender. Again, that needs to be looked at positively going forward.

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