Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. We welcome this Bill and are supportive of it, although there are some issues that we would have with the Bill which I will touch on later in my contribution.

The children in our communities deserve to be protected from criminality and kept safe in order that they can have a better future. We cannot allow the criminal gangs to continue to be such a scourge on our communities. Older criminals using children for criminal activity is not a new phenomenon in disadvantaged communities. However, there has been a visible increase in this activity in communities over the last couple of years. Young people are being targeted by older, experienced criminals. Children are being groomed by these unscrupulous criminals. They are attracted by the flash cars, the new runners, the few bob in their pockets and the status of being considered a so-called “somebody”. I have said before and will say again that these criminals are absolute nobodies. They do nothing but take away from our communities and offer nothing in return.

There will be talk of organised criminal gangs during this debate. While I accept that organised crime has a foothold in some areas, it does not run our areas. We need to give gardaí the tools to be able to consistently tackle organised crime. Organised crime has no place in our estates, our towns, our villages and our cities. I grew up in north Clondalkin and parts of my community have been ripped apart by organised crime over the years. People I went to school with, people I played football with, neighbours, friends and sometimes even relatives have been impacted by organised crime over the years. Some are victims of crime, others fell into addiction and others became involved in criminal activities.

I was in Mountjoy Prison about a month and a half ago and we spoke with the governor there. He reinforced what I already knew, which is that areas of disadvantage are disproportionately represented in our prisons. These people come from communities that feel abandoned by this Government and previous Governments. It is no coincidence that some of the most disadvantaged communities are those most affected by crime.

Years of cuts and stagnation in funding for community-based services by Fine Gael have eroded community resilience. As I have said before, this is a deliberate ploy by the Government, which sees a strong community as a threat to the status quo. Sinn Féin sees the opposite. We see strong communities as an ally in building a fair and just society for all. Sinn Féin in government would get back to basics in our communities. We would invest in community development, build community resilience and strengthen our communities.

While Sinn Féin is happy to support the progress of this Bill to the next stage, there are some potential issues that we will need to examine during the pre-legislative scrutiny process. One is the age of the recruiter of the child into criminality. The Bill defines an adult for the purpose of the relevant offences as a person over 18 whereas other jurisdictions that introduced similar laws set the age of responsibility at 21. The Bill as it stands could potentially lead to the law overcriminalising young adults, who are also often the victims of grooming themselves. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission's observations on the general scheme noted that there are situations where a child approaching 18 is coerced into engaging in criminal activity by an adult who is only slightly older. In this instance, an 18-year-old who engages in criminal activity with a 17-year-old friend could potentially receive a significant penalty and is not entitled to any of the protection of the child justice system.

Another potential issue is family involvement in recruiting children into criminal activity. I want to say from the outset that the idea of an older family member who recruits a child relative into criminal activity is despicable. However, it does happen. I live in the real world. While adults who take part in this behaviour need to be punished, the Bill needs to be mindful of how this could affect the child. There are several distinct issues arising from family involvement in recruiting children into criminal activity, including the grooming of children by family members, which is very difficult to prevent. Again, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission noted that the complex issues that arise due to family ties are often overlooked in this Bill. For example, studies have shown that children involved in criminal networks are often groomed by older family members, including parents.

There are subsequent difficulties involving the child in the prosecution of family members. Encouraging the participation of a child in the criminal justice process, including the provision of testimony, may be difficult if the parent, older sibling or other family member is facing charges and penalties for grooming or encouraging them to commit crimes. There are collateral and hidden effects of the imprisonment of a parent on the family members and children. These are well documented and include disruption in childcare arrangements. There is also the feeling of guilt that a child may feel if a family member becomes imprisoned. There is a danger that the young person or child could become ostracised by their family if a family member is imprisoned. I agree with the commission recommendation that an independent specialised information and advocacy service should be available throughout the criminal justice process for all children coming within the scope of this legislation, particularly those children exploited by parents, family members or other adults in the commission of offences.

Aside from the involvement of immediate family members, children are frequently recruited by people in their social sphere. The University of Limerick study highlighted that there are long-standing networks that are part of the community and part of the neighbourhood fabric. This, in turn, facilitates the informal recruitment style typically used when recruiting children.

During pre-legislative scrutiny, the length of sentences outlined in this Bill also needs to be debated, and these are the questions I will be asking during pre-legislative scrutiny. Is five years long enough for a hardened criminal who wilfully uses a child for their own benefit? Other jurisdictions have sentences of up to ten years. We need to send a very clear message to these criminals that they are not wanted and will pay a high price for grooming. It has been noted that simply creating new offences is a low-cost response by the State because properly resourcing and motivating police, social care workers and prosecutors to address this form of exploitation is an expensive and complex task.

Legislation alone gives political cover but it is political cover without meaningful action if it does not address the underlying reasons children are recruited into crime and what attracts them. As I have said previously, the best way to stop young people becoming involved in crime in the first place is to resource our communities. I have also said in the past that youth diversion programmes should be expanded to include young people up to the age of 25. I say this in reference to the 17- or 18-year-old who may be involved under this Bill. The Minister of State has spoken previously about increasing the age and it would be appropriate to do so under this Bill. The idea is to divert those who have committed minor offences - and I stress minor offences - away from the judicial system. Their rehabilitation should take place within their communities. This would give more young people, who could be influenced by older criminals, the resilience to resist their coercive control.

There is also the scourge of drug debt intimidation in our communities. If a young person is caught with a quantity of drugs, the criminals demand payment. They often exaggerate the price and put mothers and fathers in fear, not only for their own lives but also the lives of their children, when demanding payments. My Coercion of a Minor (Misuse of Drugs Amendment) Bill 2022 passed Second Stage last year. That Bill would deter criminals from using children to sell or supply drugs, thus leading to fewer instances of drug debt intimidation. Such intimidation is an absolute scourge in our communities, with families afraid to ask for help. In my area we are lucky to have a designated officer who meets with families who are victims of drug debt intimidation in a strictly confidential manner but one officer is not enough. This needs to be rolled out in other stations across Dublin and in other areas of the State. More resources need to be given to our gardaí to allow families to feel safe in coming forward. While this Bill is progressing through the Oireachtas, it would be worthwhile keeping an eye on the Citizen's Assembly on Drugs, the recommendations it arrives at and the legislation that may follow. Drug misuse and abuse destroys families, individuals and whole communities.

Communities have only known one thing, which is the war on drugs but the war on drugs is not working. The war on drugs is actually a war on working-class communities. It has led to the criminalisation of vast numbers of our young people. I welcome the fact that the citizen's assembly is examining international best practice. I do not want to pre-empt its findings but if we move towards a health-led approach rather than a judicial approach, it may reduce the number of young people getting involved in crime.

We need to ensure that children are not groomed into crime and that they can just be children - playing football, taking music lessons, hanging out with their friends and doing all of the things that children do to reach their full potential. To ensure that this happens, we need to resource and invest in our communities so they are resilient and resistant to crime. A resourced community is a safe community and a safe community is a thriving community.

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