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

Youth justice and the right for our young people to be young people are priorities for how this State should operate. Every child and young person deserves the right to reach their full potential. I have said this often in the Chamber and it is true concerning mental health and also in youth justice. Young people are our future and we must invest in them.

A troubling trend prevalent in organised crime for some time now has been the grooming of minors into criminality. Criminals offer a lifestyle of flashy clothes and quick money to young people, whom they use in the sale and running of drugs. Let me be clear that these criminals are nobodies and they suck the lifeblood of young people from our communities. They do not run our communities. Our communities are run by hardworking and decent people. Our communities, however, have been let down by successive governments through a lack of funding and low Garda resourcing. Our young people in these communities are being left behind as a result.

Sinn Féin has long pointed to community resilience as being paramount in the prevention of crime in our communities. The lack of investment by the Government is directly facilitating crime to take place. My Sinn Féin colleagues and I have put forward several items of legislation to tackle crime in our communities. For example, Deputies Martin Kenny, Denise Mitchell and I introduced the Coercion of a Minor (Misuse of Drugs Amendment) Bill 2022 last year. This proposed legislation would make it a stand-alone offence for criminals to engage young people in drug-related crimes with a maximum penalty of ten years. We must be tough on those who groom young people into engaging in crime.

Young people engaged in criminality should have to face the appropriate justice. In the case of minor offences, though, they should be diverted away from the justice system. I stress the minor offences aspect. We are in favour of the Garda YDPs. Consideration should be given to extending the age limit eligibility for the diversion programmes from 18 to 25. I know the Government is considering extending this age limit to 24. To be consistent with other areas, and I refer in this context to the future of mental healthcare, as outlined in the Sharing the Vision policy, which states that care for young people should be extended to the age of 25, I believe the same should be the case with youth diversion. We need to see this uniform approach.

Research has shown that people in this age group are vulnerable to being groomed into crime as they have often been exposed to criminal activity as minors. Those aged 18 to 25 make up the highest percentage of the prison population. This tells me that young people are being let down as children and then being let down again as they become young adults. Extending the age for eligibility for diversion programmes to 25 could reduce the numbers of people in prison, which are already overcrowded. This change could keep our young people in our communities and give them every opportunity to contribute positively to our society.

I referred to community resilience.

This is the best approach to reducing crime, in particular among young people. Two years ago, Deputy Ó Murchú and I introduced the proceeds of crime Bill that would reinvest money seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, into the communities it has been taken out of. The Government has come along with this. I have often referenced the mother who took out a credit union loan to repay the drug debts of her children. The money is being robbed from these areas and not returned.

In the last round of the community safety fund launched by the Government, six groups in my area applied for funding and not one was successful. Parts of my area are some of the most disadvantaged in the State. With proper resourcing, communities like mine can become strong and flourish. Young people can have the best opportunity to reach their full potential.

The national youth justice strategy calls for a cross-departmental approach to address youth crime. One community group I have referenced on several occasions in the Chamber could benefit from a cross-departmental approach, which is one of the groups which applied for the community safety fund and was not successful.

The Clondalkin Equine Club is a project that teaches young people the importance of responsible urban horsemanship. The club is based in a purpose-built facility that stables 20 horses. The project was brought about to tackle the issue of horses being kept in a disadvantaged community. Since the club has been in operation, the number of horses being seized by South Dublin County Council has dramatically reduced. The club has had some great outcomes with young people, some of whom have gone on to careers in showjumping and racing.

There are also the unwritten statistics of people who have engaged with the project and who could have gone into a life of crime or who could have been vulnerable to criminals community. They are in a safe place, something that needs to be recognised. It is an invaluable resource for my community but the board is struggling to get long-term funding. It is being passed from pillar to post and is never given certainty. I have called for a cross-departmental approach to funding. Funding for the club could easily come through from the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Children Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Education, Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Justice. Despite my best efforts, no one is willing to sit down and take on this on a cross-departmental basis.

I have raised this matter with every Minister, barring the Minister for Justice. I am taking this opportunity to do so now. I have invited other Ministers to view the project and to date they have not accepted the invitation. I want to take this opportunity to invite the Minister of State to visit the Clondalkin Equine Club and see at first hand the benefits it has for the community.

Young people should have active engagement in decisions about their lives. I welcome confirmation from the Government that the youth voice will be heard in the citizens' assembly. It is important that this happens. Our youth should have an active role in designing our youth justice system for young people and we encourage their contribution. It is imperative that our younger citizens are listened to in respect of decisions that affect their future. We must hear what country our young people want to envisage for themselves. At 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 28 June, in the Communications Workers Union in Dublin there will be a youth assembly on Irish unity. It will hear contributions from young people and organisations that specialise in youth work about what the future of the island will look like in a united Ireland. Planning for the future must be on a 32-county all-Ireland basis. Young people have a vital role to play in discussions about a new Ireland. Too often, their voices are not heard. I encourage all young people to attend this meeting.

I want to be clear that we must be tough on crime. Serious offences such as violent crime should have serious consequences. Detention must be considered for these serious offences, but effective community resilience and diversion programmes can reduce the number of serious crimes. This must be a priority. As the Minister of State said, early intervention is key.

We must also look for justice for those who are affected by crime. I have worked in organisations in the past that practice restorative justice. It is a practice whereby the victim of a crime can speak with the perpetrator of that crime. It is done through an intermediary in a safe way, directly or indirectly. It will help the person who perpetrated the crime to better understand how their actions have affected others. This sees better outcomes for victims and perpetrators. Restorative justice must be resourced in order that young people involved in crime and those who are victims of crime can have better outcomes.

I also want to talk about Cherry Orchard in my neighbouring constituency. It is a vibrant community despite being a community of trauma. It is the trauma of a disadvantaged area, addiction, mental health and community violence. My colleagues, Deputy Ó Snodaigh and Councillor Daithí Doolan, are working hard to turn this around. We welcome the implementation group that was set up by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, last year after some high profile and, frankly, very traumatic incidents.

We welcome the financial commitments in the implementation plan. I have two requests. The first is that the community voice is not lost in the implementation plan. Members of the group need to come from the community, community groups and local county councillors. They are the people on the ground who are best informed to contribute to the plan. My second request is that the Government supports a trauma therapy service, which could be the first of its kind in the State, to be delivered by Familibase in Cherry Orchard. It has developed a model and is ready to go. I call on the Government to help it deliver it.

I opened my contribution by speaking about the right of every child to reach his or her full potential and giving our young people the best chance in life. We support the national youth justice plan, but we need to see the benefits. We need fewer young people being involved in crime and being detained. We need more young people to be involved in community groups, taking up employment, pursuing education, staying and living in Ireland and, as I said, having the opportunity to be a young person. The State cannot become no country for young people.

See this speech in context