Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like the other speakers, I welcome the progress we have made on this issue. I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, on how he has approached it. I think he has listened to people in communities and Deputies across the House in different parties about what is needed on the ground. He has also delivered in real terms. There are an additional eight youth workers in Finglas south, my area, but many more are needed. The Minister of State came out and met that service and the children and young people benefiting from it. The previous speakers touched on the fact that this is a huge societal issue. Youth justice is one area before the Minister and one area that is a subject of the report, but the State's policy on drugs, child poverty, investing in Tusla, rolling out the north inner city model and an interagency approach to tackling disadvantage all feed into youth justice.

In many ways, the Garda is the most accountable version of that State response. It deals at the coalface of it, but, unfortunately, many other agencies are not accountable to Members of this House, local councillors or local communities in the way the Garda is. There are safety forums, joint policing committees and other structures in which gardaí can be quizzed and tackled about local policing plans. The same structures are not available for how Tusla or the HSE intervene in a community or about how there should more and greater supports for local drugs and alcohol task forces. In some ways, I have some sympathy that the justice ends of societies that are under real pressure are the most accountable but by no means are they the only solution. Area-based interventions are the key to tackling this issue. We discussed the Greentown report and the north inner city model. Cherry Orchard, Darndale and many other areas have started to have these interagency models; they all differ and have different approaches, some with resources some without, some with access to senior official groups and some without. While all of that is happening, Ballymun, which presented the Ballymun: A Brighter Future report to the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, in 2021, is still waiting for the senior officials group to be appointed. I believe that is imminent and I trust that it is. Approximately €2 million was allocated by the then Taoiseach to support the implementation of the report. However, €2 million will go nowhere towards solving the big societal issues in Ballymun. We need other agencies to come to the table, focusing the budgets they already have. Sometimes, it is not just about more money, it is about ensuring that those agencies about which I spoke - the HSE, Tusla and many others - focus their efforts and resource the staff available in those areas and that we approach the illegal drugs industry in a way that prevents criminals from benefiting off the backs of young people.

There are many measures and positive things we can look to for this Government in how it approaches this matter, such as the Taoiseach's task force on child poverty and the roll-out of the north inner city models, but the most-evidenced improvements have been in youth justice, which I welcome. Youth work is how I came to community work and how I came to represent my community. I was involved in the Finglas No Name Club, part of a national organisation to provide young people with alternatives to drugs and alcohol. It is where I and many other young people in my area were given opportunities to take leadership in our communities, get involved and learn new skills. Youth work is the core response to equip young people against many of the peer pressures they face in their communities. I think the Minister of State succeeded in securing an improvement in his budget last year, which I welcome, and I thank the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, for supporting the Minister of State in that regard. I encourage him to go further this year; I think he has increased the number of youth diversion programmes from 106 to 110. There are areas that need them but existing services need more support in the same way he has invested in many areas like my own, Finglas south.

Other areas need investment too and those areas need more intensive support as well.

There must also be a marrying of youth justice and general youth work funding under the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. I say this because many youth projects are actually the same project, with two streams of funding coming in. The project itself seeks not to discriminate between children who might be actively put through a youth diversion programme but to bring the two streams of funding together to support one cohort of young people. I refer to where someone in a diversion programme is being mixed into a general youth programme and there is no visible distinction between the young people. This is also important. It is important that young people are not targeted or labelled. Equally, this type of initiative should not be seen as a club for bold kids because that sends a different message to other young people who are not engaged in criminal activity. There should be greater co-operation between and marrying of the two services. The service providers are sometimes different but greater interagency work between these service providers where this happens in an area will benefit the young people involved.

I urge the Minister of State to continue working in the area of youth justice and to seek funding for it. I also ask him to do all in his power to ensure that the Department and the Taoiseach follow through on their promise concerning these area-based initiatives and that Ballymun, which I know is top of the list, is approved. As I said, Finglas and many other areas are also waiting. I am sure there are Deputies around the House who would similarly urge the Minister of State to do this.

Places like Finglas and Ballymun have very strong infrastructure in place, although it is often under-resourced. I see Deputy Ward in the House and I know Clondalkin has much of the same infrastructure in place. However, in places like Santry and Drumcondra where there are young people who are vulnerable, there is often no youth work project or drugs task force. There are pockets of disadvantage in those areas that do not get the support they need. This is one of the other measures I would like to see the youth justice strategy address.

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