Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

What strikes me reading through the Estimate is how little ambition the Government is showing when it come to targeting vulnerable young people, tackling domestic violence and living up to our obligations on prisons and immigration. Once again, we are presented with tables that look busy on the page but that fail utterly to meet the needs of the people who depend on a functioning and fair justice system.

On youth diversion, Vote 24 sets aside €33.2 million for youth justice interventions this year, up from €30.5 million last year - an increase of €2.6 million. The latter amount represents the cost of a few consultancy contracts in any other Department. We are told it will support 4,600 young people nationwide. That is the total ambition of Government, namely 4,600 places in a country where tens of thousands of children are growing up in poverty and where youth workers tell us daily that they are at breaking point.

In the context of the so-called early intervention for eight- to 11-year-olds, 767 children are targeted for this year. That is 767 across the whole country, which is less than the enrolment of a single primary school in some areas. Why is early intervention capped at 767 places? Can the Minister name a single county where every child who needs diversion actually gets it? What is outlined appears to be a ration book as opposed to a youth justice strategy. If we believed in prevention, we would double capacity and make diversion a right, not a privilege as it presently stands.

The allocation in respect of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence will increase from €54 million to €61 million, but this is no step change. We are still talking about just 170 refuge units nationwide. How can the Minister stand over that when the Istanbul Convention says Ireland needs at least 500 units? We are also talking about just 307 men completing behaviour change programmes. Does the Minister really believe that 307 men in programmes is an adequate response in a country of 5 million people? Perpetrator accountability is a public safety work. At this scale, the allocation barely scratches the surface. Where is the recognition that violence is moving online? Survivors are stalked, tracked and harassed through their phones, yet not a single euro is earmarked for tackling cyber stalking, spyware or image-based abuse. Why is there no budget line for online violence?

On prisons and probation, the pattern repeats in our prisons. There is money at the back end of the system but nothing to prevent the harm in the first place. The Dóchas Centre is at 141% of capacity. Limerick Prison is at 128% of capacity. If these were schools or hospitals, inspectors would shut them down. When it comes to prisons, however, overcrowding has very clearly become a policy. The Department has set a target of 3,000 prisoners in programmes at a time when more than 5,000 people are actually in prison. That is simply cooking the books. Why is the Department hiding behind the figure of 3,000 when the true population is almost double that? Meanwhile, the Probation Service has a 90% success rate but it is consistently outspent in the context of prison beds that fail every day. Why is the Probation Service still being starved will overcrowded prisons get funding? Probation very clearly works; prison overcrowding does not. The recidivism rates give testimony to that fact. This Government funds failure and starves success.

On immigration, migrants are being charged millions in fees for registration, visas and citizenship. Families are paying thousands of euro to just stay in the country legally. How much will the State collect in migrant fees this year and how much of that will be reinvested in housing, early legal aid or integration? These fees are bankrolling bureaucracy and backlogs. Detaining people while they await deportation has become a practice. Despite the fact that this breaches international human rights, it is just accepted as a norm. Why is Ireland detaining people in breach of UN standards? Does the Minister accept that families are paying to finance their own exclusion? That is not integration; it is deterrence by delay.

The bigger picture is that these Estimates are about rationing services, not about building justice. Youth diversion is capped at 4,600 places when the level of need is so much greater. Domestic violence support is stuck at 170 refuge units in a threadbare way. We are not holding perpetrators to account. Probation, despite being proven to work, is starved of resources while prisons are overflowing. The immigration system is collapsing and falling far short of basic human rights standards.

Ours is not a justice system that is built on rights or safety.

It is a system designed to ration services, keep demand manageable and push the most vulnerable out of sight. We should be starting our Estimates with rights. We should massively expand refuge spaces, guarantee early intervention for vulnerable young people, invest properly in probation and build a humane migration system that is rooted in solidarity with and acknowledgement of the struggle that many people have had. Until then, these Estimates remain what they are today, tables of numbers that speak volumes about a Government that knows the cost of everything and, clearly, the value of nothing.

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