Dáil debates

Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Diverting Young People from Criminal Activity: Statements

 

9:40 am

Photo of Barry WardBarry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús báire, ní féidir linn a rá cé chomh tábhachtach is atá an t-ábhar seo agus an luach a bhaineann le polasaí éifeachtach anseo ach an oiread. The importance of diverting young people away from crime cannot be overstated. It is a deeply important thing and the underlying principle has to be that prevention is better than cure. Although it does not mean that people are beyond the scope of policies if they have been involved in criminality, the reality is that it is increasingly difficult to undo the damage of being involved in certain criminality once it has happened. We are much better off investing in programmes that save people from ever going down that road or finding themselves in that situation.

The value of diversion cannot be overstated. The 8,404 young people who were in the Garda youth diversion programme in 2022 benefited from it. It is impossible to say how effective that programme has been. We do not know how many other young people did not get into that programme and benefit from it. It yields dividends tenfold if it is effective. I come from a background of criminal law and defending young people who have been involved in or accused of being involved in criminality so I have seen these people up close and in person. I have heard their stories and I understand the circumstances that brought about that involvement. To be perfectly honest, it is very rarely accidental. If you superimpose a map of those who have become involved in criminality onto a map of disadvantage, it is very clear why it happens. Not providing young people with the opportunity and option to get out of that is part of the problem. The evidence linking where you come from with criminality is very clear. It is not necessarily something that is geographically defined although there are definitely concentrations. From the people I have represented, I know there are areas, particularly areas of Dublin, that are over-represented. That is not a reflection on the people who live in those areas but it is a reflection on investment in those communities and the options available to people who grew up in them.

I will raise an issue regarding my own area that I have raised before. I live in Honeypark in Dún Laoghaire. It is a lovely place to live but we have had issues in the local area with young people who do not have alternative options, facilities to entertain them or sports facilities. One of the greatest pressures on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at the moment is the lack of playing pitches for the many sports clubs that want to provide facilities for kids who are in exactly this boat to do things other than the things they might otherwise end up getting involved in.

There are a couple of approaches that we need to take to this. It is without doubt that we need to look at where there are problems and focus our efforts there but, as a general rule, we need to invest in communities and community facilities, particularly sports facilities, to give young people options to do other things. We also need to give gardaí the confidence and power to deal with issues when they arise. One of the issues that people raise with me all the time in Dún Laoghaire, particularly in the context of antisocial behaviour, which is the thin edge of the wedge as regards youth criminal activity, is that we should encourage gardaí not to take the view that nothing can be done when those involved are children.

We should also look at parental responsibility, which is something we do not focus on enough. Children do not get involved in criminality off their own bat. It happens because of a series of failures at societal, community and family level. There is no doubt about that. Parents need to take responsibility for their children. That is very clear. However, I know from speaking to gardaí in my area that they feel that, if they come across a situation where young people are involved in something, they cannot intervene or that, if they do intervene, the courts system will not deal with those people in an effective way.

With regard to young people who have involved themselves in crime and ultimately paid the price of being imprisoned, the most recent figures, which I believe are from 2024, show that 84% of young adults under 21 reoffended within three years. That is an appalling recidivism rate. Unfortunately, it reflects poorly on us in this House and in this society. We need to deal with that. Many years ago, when I worked in this House as an adviser, I visited a young offenders institution in Cheshire in England that had reduced the recidivism rate among young people to 16%. It had done this by bringing them into a very expensive prison system in which they had freedom to operate and from which they could walk away at any time, although they knew that, if they did, they would not be allowed back.

While in there, they had to take responsibility for their conduct, make their beds, keep their rooms clean, get up early in the morning, get their breakfast, learn a trade and be involved in a programme that resulted in a particular outcome.

This is the type of thing we need to invest in. Let us be real, however; it is not cheap. If we want to reap the dividends that come with diverting young people away from criminality, we also have to be prepared to pay the financial cost, because it is expensive. Investment in young people is expensive but the idea is that a generation from now we will reap the dividends of having young people who understand that crime is not the only option. We can therefore compete with those on the streets who seek to draw them into criminality, tell them they can make easy money or get whatever it might be - jackets, runners and so on - and that this will somehow compensate for the damage that will be done to them in later life. Let us make sure they are equipped with the proper tools to allow them to make the decisions they have to make to be on a path that results in a positive, constructive approach to society. That is what we want for all our young people. We in this House have to be willing to invest in the products that will bring about those dividends and in policies that will ensure young people have options when they go out of their homes and away from their families in order that they will not be drawn into attractive alternatives but will instead avail of opportunities that will bring them into a fruitful adulthood, one we can all be proud of.

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