Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Statements on diverting young people from crime is an interesting concept and something I would talk about every day if I could. However, statements without follow on action leaves us nowhere. We have had all the evidence and research and we know what brings young people into crime. We have known for decades now.

If you imagine the portrait of a young person, I obviously think about Dublin Central and the north inner city, the places I am familiar with and where I grew up. Imagine them all over the country. No young person fills out an application to involve themselves in crime. There is not a website you go to say you would like to pick that profession and you would like to get involved in that sort of behaviour that is disadvantageous both to the person and the community in which they were brought up. That is far from what brings a young person into crime. Before we talk about what diverts a young person from crime, we must make sure we start by addressing what brings that person to those conditions in the first place.

It is always going to be poverty. It is always going to be trauma. It is always going to be generational neglect. It is always going to be a sense that this is not a place that is built for you; be that the education system or the world in which other people have an advantage over them that would just seem normal, like a comfortable home, a safe upbringing and all of those things. They are not the reality. I often think about the quote from Frankenstein when I think about what crime is. It reads that when all good to me became lost, "evil thenceforth became my good.".

We have criminal and gang networks that are building the kind of structure that fills in where the State has removed itself. There are very obvious examples and I might come to them shortly but this is about neglect. It is neglect that creates the conditions of a poisoned orchard where the fruit of that will emerge in a way that is not good for any of us. We should always be willing to address that first. We need to build structures that are safe and where young people feel seen and supported and where the issues they have, whether through how they came into the world, the conditions of trauma, the poverty or the sense of anger that builds, can be addressed.

There are reports going back decades that address this and point this out yet we have not had the action to back it up. Of course, there are going to be calls for more policing. I make calls for more policing quite regularly in this Chamber. We need community gardaí in our cities, our villages and in our towns. Of course we do. We need gardaí that know a person's name and understand the environment they are asked to police but gardaí on their own will not solve this. Gardaí cannot be expected to be social workers or youth workers. Our court system was not built for that type of prevention. It was built with a Humpty Dumpty approach of when things fall down, then we step in and the cycle repeats and will continue to repeat.

Even over the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of focus placed on Dublin and calls for more gardaí. I then heard to great fanfare that 60 new public order units would be sent into Dublin city. More gardaí are absolutely welcome but the style of garda is what will make a difference. Public order units have a very specific function. They can only be called in when certain conditions are met and when things have already broken down. What most of us would much rather see is gardaí on the ground and who would be in our community centres and building relationships.

That will not be addressed with public order policing alone. Far from it.

Sport was the original diversion programme. Sport has been for many young people a space where they build their confidence, find their mentors - the one or two good adults in their lives - and build identities for themselves outside of crime. It is where a young person would learn discipline, teamwork, emotional regulation and, most importantly, a sense of belonging. Sport should not just be about the medals or the achievements at the end. It is actually about all the young people getting to feel included and, within that inclusion, building their confidence and sense of place. Sports clubs, youth programmes and community safety groups do this work every single day, often with no recognition or resourcing from the State. It should also be pointed out that when those 37% cuts to community programmes happened during the period of austerity, they devastated the infrastructure by which young people could emerge into an environment that was catered to their needs.

In my constituency of Dublin Central, specifically in Dublin 1, which is often talked about but rarely if ever really understood, I think it surprises many people to learn there is no 11-a-side football pitch. Many Teachtaí Dála who represent different constituencies often find that the GAA club or the sports facility is the centre of their constituency. It is the place where you go to connect and make friends. Imagine, an area like Dublin 1, the north inner city, does not have access to an 11-a-side football pitch. I know it is the same in Deputy Cummins's constituency, in Dublin 8, where they won a long campaign just to get a football pitch. Imagine that basic amenity just not being provided. Resourcing went into the inner city a couple of years ago following the well-documented feud. There has been the north inner city task force in the six or seven years that have passed since. It is often lauded in here. Other TDs ask for something similar in their own areas. Imagine over €15 million being spent and still not having a football pitch.

The eyes of the country were brought onto Dublin Central during the general election because a particular individual with a high profile ran. When he was talked about, he was often referred to in the context of the boxing club that he helped found. Did that not ring alarm bells for anybody? When the State removes itself, particular individuals have to step in and provide basic amenities. That is what happens in the absence of a state. If there is no access to boxing clubs, sports pitches or sports clubs, other actors will fill that space for us. Then we ask, "How did that happen?" It happens in the absence of a state.

There have been multiple instances in Dublin Central - for example, in Fairview Park - where kids have gone to play football every week but cars have driven onto and over the pitches and then the kids cannot play football there for the next couple of months. Sports clubs like Sheriff YC, East Wall Bessborough, Montpelier and Belvedere do absolutely amazing work in fostering environments in which young people can feel safe, develop their identities, grow their confidence and have that sense that they can be anything because they have found a place there. Every single month, many such clubs struggle to keep the lights on. I find that incredible. If we are going to talk about diverting young people from crime, let us talk about what the State has to do in terms of going in with full resourcing and full vigour and with the belief that this works and makes a difference. Somehow, it still does not happen. I find it difficult to explain this to my constituents and those sports clubs when they come looking for funding to buy boxing bags. We are talking about places that deal with young people and their families who are at genuine risk of poverty, yet they do not have access to basics such as gloves and the parents are asked to spend €10 or €20 a week. The State should be doing that.

In the absence of that, I was at City Hall a couple of weeks ago when a sports club network was founded for groups and sports clubs in the inner city. There were about 200 people there - all sports clubs, football clubs, rugby clubs, darts clubs, swimming clubs. They were dealing with about 2,000 to 3,000 young people and all they were asking for was support in order that they could do that work. I do not doubt for a second that there are funding grants, but it is very clear there is one group of people who have access and there are others who do not. That is what this is about: who has access to be able to take the time to fill out those forms and who does not. That situation is not in equilibrium.

When it comes to what investment and prevention look like, there are models that work. We have talked with the Minister about rising knife crime a number of times. The Minister's response to increases in knife crime has been simply to increase sentencing. If somebody carries a knife or uses a knife, he or she should feel the full force of the law, but that will not address knife crime. It will not address the means by which a person chooses, out of fear or abandonment or whatever forces that person to pick up a knife in a manner that very few of us can imagine, to take the next step. Nobody who is engaged in that behaviour is going to think about how it used to be a five-year sentence but is now seven years. That is not the mindset of a person engaged in that behaviour. Until we realise that proper prevention measures and intervention require resources, we will continue to have these conversations. We can increase the sentence to ten years or 15 years; it will not make a difference.

Real investment looks like the expansion of youth diversion programmes, not just in name or in scope, but in staffing and funding, and the recognition that every young person should have access to tailored support. It is about treating sport and youth services as essential infrastructure, building proper facilities, ensuring disability access and giving clubs the resources to meet existing need.

We know the consequences of inaction. We see them all the time. We see them in the rising stats. The consequences of inaction will continue to be courts that are full and prisons that are overcrowded. If we ignore trauma, we pay for it later. It is a simple fact. Hurt people will hurt people. It costs us more in terms of societal impact to clean up the damage than it would cost in terms of investment to prevent it. We need trained mediators. A lot of this requires funding and courage, not just statements, but genuine action that backs it up with evidence-based solutions, understanding the research that is decades-old and just going in there with vigour to say it does not have to be this way. We can have better outcomes for our young people.

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