Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is a very important debate because, as the Minister of State will be aware, the more people we can divert from criminal activity, the better. Apart from being good for the individual themselves, this leads to a significant saving for the State. I agree with colleagues about the importance of community gardaí. Within the communities in which we live, we all know of those gardaí who have been effective in engaging with young people and youth organisations. There has to be an increased emphasis placed on gardaí getting to know those young people who are particularly hard to reach, some of whom are from minority and Traveller backgrounds, to get them to be actively involved within their communities. Many youth groups in areas I represent in Wicklow-Wexford are more than willing to engage with gardaí. That investment in youth services is critical.

The tradition of gardaí going into schools and talking about their work and breaking down the barriers is critically important. We are not seeing this to the same extent that we did in the past. In raising the matter with the Garda Síochána, I encourage the Minister of State to ask that there be an active programme of engaging with young people in schools and in the context of youth services.

One of the challenges of young people getting involved in crime is that they often end up there by simply being the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time, or they have had poor peer influence. In those circumstances, the key is that programmes are put in place to ensure that we prevent them from reoffending, that supports are in place to ensure they will not reoffend and that they do not end up going to prison, which becomes a training camp for them to develop worse habits and possibly get involved in more serious crime.

I am very heartened by the work of the Gate Service, which is part of the Irish Association for Social Inclusion Opportunities. I see this operating in Shelton Abbey, which is the open prison just outside Arklow. The facility there is managed by Neala Murphy, the training and employment officer with the Gate Service. Within an open prison, it allows for a lot of the prisoners, many of them young people, to have opportunities to contribute towards the community and take up education, training and even employment opportunities. In other words, those who have been involved in crime are given a second chance. I am aware that we are talking about diverting people away from criminal activity, but for those young people who make mistakes, and many of them do so, it is critical that we give them that second chance. We should look at investments in the likes of the Gate Service. I encourage the Minister of State to come to Shelton Abbey to see it in action.

I reiterate a critical point that was made earlier, namely that it is about engaging with young people, listening to young people and hearing their voices.

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