Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with an awful lot of what my colleagues have said about the youth justice strategy. Some good points are being made and we are making some journey points at present. We know the level of intervention that is required and that starts from very early family supports. We have pilot schemes and programmes at times and I note representatives of Archways, the Changing Lives Initiative and early family support services appeared before the Joint Sub-committee on Mental Health. A pilot is being operated in my own part of the world and elsewhere but we need to be able to offer it to more families. We need interventions way beyond that. The Minister of State and I visited some of the youth diversion projects in Dundalk. He is aware of the level of work that is being done there. The High Voltage Project works from The House in Cox's Demesne and the teams project is in Muirhevnamor where some excellent work is being done. In respect of The House in particular, its representatives talk about the absolute necessity of some of the recent funding and the likes of the youth diversion project and others having access to a minibus being absolutely vital to being able to offer the sort of interventions that are necessary.

It is also an area in which there are very early interventions for ages eight to 11. When we talk about drug dealing or kids involved in criminality or falling into it, that is the sort of age bracket we are talking about. By the time we talk about youth diversion projects and in some cases, by the time they see a juvenile liaison officer, JLO, we are already too far along the road. Some of these early interventions will not be absolutely perfect from the point of view of moving kids, helping their families and moving them away from the journey into the criminal underworld. We will be able to divert some of them, however, and beyond that a relationship will be built. That means that by the time they are dealing with youth diversion projects, there will be that connection and relationship and possibly an ability to have an impact on those children's lives. This is not just about those children; it is about wider society because we all pay the price for every kid we do not save.

As much as we give out about the fact there is not enough building going on, there are areas outside Dundalk in which there have been huge builds recently. In some cases, an element of planning has not been done and we are in need of bus routes, schools and all the rest of it. I am sure that will follow. There is also a need for some of these really early interventions. We know what the issues are. We know where intergenerational trauma has met poverty and the huge work that is done, sometimes by schools and others. However, as Deputy Paul Donnelly noted, we have not necessarily tooled people up properly to be able to deliver. That is the problem. We will fail these people, we will fail these families and we will fail wider society.

We know what is happening. We can talk about the drug problem and we know it is happening across the board. We know it is particularly bad in disadvantaged areas and that this seeps out from time to time. From the calls I get, I am aware there is an element in urban settings where drug dealing is absolutely normalised. Sometimes the complaint is there is no level of discretion in drug dealing; that it is in the street and it is obvious. It has become utterly normalised even for the kids who live in those places sometimes. I deal with the Garda regarding this and I do not have to put in the record again that drug debt intimidation is one of the biggest issues I have to deal with on a daily basis. We really need to put in those pieces to avoid some of this. We all welcome the fact the citizens' assembly is under way. We all know we want to ensure we give the powers to the Garda to deal with these criminal gangs, particularly when dealing with drug debt intimidation and the impact it has on families. We really need to get the intervention piece in place. Some good work is being done and these projects and the work they are doing are having a real impact. Again however, if we are really serious about youth diversion and the youth justice strategy, we need to put it on steroids compared with what we have at present.

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