Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I commend the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, on developing the youth justice strategy. I also commend him on chairing the steering group that is extremely important in putting forward proposals as to how we deal with this hugely important issue of responding to youth justice issues. We spend a lot of time in this House talking about issues in respect of which the outcome may not be that great, even if we get it right, but when we look at the issue of youth justice, if a person gets caught up in the criminal justice system we can see there is a huge benefit not just to the individuals involved but to society if we get it right.

What do we mean when we talk about getting it right? What it means is that we try to divert young people from the pathway of criminality that many of them find themselves on at a very early age. If we look at the statistics in respect of criminal wrongdoing in this country, or more specifically, individuals who are convicted by our courts of criminal acts of violence or criminal acts of theft and property-related offences, a high proportion of those convicted are men under the age of 35 years. It is astonishing when we look at it, but once men get over the age of 35 or 40 their incidence of criminal wrongdoing drops considerably. It must be also pointed out that it is, regrettably, predominantly men who are involved in criminal activity involving acts of violence and acts of crimes against property. One thing we notice when we speak to prisoners or men who have had convictions is that, regrettably, if we go back and trace their pathway into prison, it starts at a very young age. Very many of them were boys who got into trouble at the age of 14 or 15 years, and by the time they were 18 they had already come to the attention of the Garda and indeed the courts. Some of them have been already detained in juvenile centres. If somebody under the age of 18 years gets on the pathway of criminality, it is extremely difficult to get that person off that while in their 20s. If a 17- or 18-year old is involved in criminality, I regret to say there is a strong likelihood that as a young man in his 20s that same person will continue on the pathway of criminality.

I was in Mountjoy Prison recently and I spoke to persons who had been convicted of extremely serious offences. I had illuminating conversations with many of them. One man spoke to me about how in his earlier life, from the age of 15 or 16 onwards, he believed that violence was a way for him to get his way. He said that in his youth - in his teens and in his 20s - violence had been very effective in terms of him getting his way. He said the reason he believed that is that - as we know, children are sponges and they absorb what is told to them by people around them - he had been told by his own father that violence was a way of getting what he wanted. It was very interesting talking to him in Mountjoy because he had come to the realisation – I do not know what was the reason for him coming to the realisation - that he had been going down a completely wrong path for many years and that violence was not a way for him to get his way, and that it was a wholly unacceptable way for him to try to exert his influence. What the conversation with that man taught me, which is self-evident, is that from a very early age children are influenced by the people around them. That is why I welcome the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, in the youth justice strategy has identified all the important factors that are necessary to divert children and, if we are honest about it, it is mainly boys and young men, from the pathway that leads them to the criminal justice system. One of the points that has been emphasised is the need for early intervention and preventative work. That is why I think we are doing a disservice to young boys if we find them involved in criminal activity, whether it be fighting in a public place, theft or assault causing harm, if we do not make them aware of the seriousness of what they have done. If a young man believes he can just engage in an act of violence, theft or criminality and there are no consequences, he will find it very difficult to recognise that it is a pathway from which he needs to deviate.

Another important element of the youth justice strategy is the whole area of family support. We all know that having reliable and responsible adults around children growing up is hugely influential and beneficial. I know that is not the case for everyone and that some families have huge struggles and challenges, but the State must support those families who find it difficult to provide the support the majority of people in the country are lucky to have when they are children. We must identify at a very early stage the families and mothers on their own who need the support of the State to bring up a child or children. We must spend money and resources and ensure those services and supports are available. I spoke to a woman last week at the Bloomsday event in the St. Andrew's Resource Centre, who is in the business of trying to provide childcare support in homes and disadvantaged areas. It is hugely consequential and beneficial. We must recognise that unless we as a society provide support to those families that need support, we are, in effect, leaving them on their own and the likelihood is that without that support the children may get into trouble later on.

Another important aspect of the strategy is to divert people from crime. Again, that is about bringing to the attention of young people the consequences of their crimes. One of the reasons we see people coming out of the court covering their faces is that to large extent they are embarrassed about what they have done. They do not want it publicised that they have been involved in a serious criminal act of violence. That indicates that inherent in every person is a belief and an understanding that engaging in violence against another person is wrong and that is something we need to ensure young people are aware of.

I could go on much longer but I see my time is up. I again commend the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, on the work he has done. It is a strategy we all need to keep working on and that the State needs to support.

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