Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I move:

That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to make provision for the creation of an offence in circumstances where an adult recruits a child to carry out a criminal offence on his or her behalf and to provide for related matters.

I welcome the opportunity to introduce the Bill, which I hope will be fondly known in the future as "Fagin's law". The purpose of the Bill is to create an additional offence in regard to an adult grooming children to commit crimes, for example, in cases where an adult incites or pressurises a child into burglarising homes of an adult on his or her behalf. Coming from rural Ireland - this also applies to burglaries in Dublin and urban Ireland - we know it is often the case that when gardaí arrive on the scene, all that is open is the small bathroom window, which is indicative that a child may have made his or her way into the house to help with a burglary and then proceeded to open the door to allow the adults in.

This offence shall be deemed to be committed when an adult recruits a child, either knowingly or in a manner that is reckless as to whether the person is a child, to commit the crime. To be guilty of the offence the person must know that the child is likely to commit the crime as a result of their incitement or is reckless as to whether the child will commit the crime. A person found guilty shall be punished upon conviction to an imprisonment term not exceeding ten years.

This Bill would implement a key recommendation of the tenth report of the special rapporteur for child protection, which was launched just before Christmas by Dr. Geoffrey Shannon. Dr. Shannon is one of Ireland's leading voices on child and family law and, as part of his remit as special rapporteur, he prepares yearly reports on the developments in child and family law and highlights gaps arising in the previous year. This is one of the gaps he has identified in his recent report. He notes that while there is already a law in place and there is an offence of incitement, it is a question of how to bring that incitement offence to completion. At present, the law only applies in regard to a particular crime and it cannot apply to repeated incidents or to encouraging crime - the offence has to be identified at the time of the particular crime. My "Fagin's law" Bill would apply where an adult, whether an older sibling or other member of the family, is encouraging or grooming vulnerable young people to continuously repeat crimes.

Retail Excellence Ireland is delighted that the Bill is coming forward for the simple reason of the amount of shoplifting taking place, where the mother, father, older brother or older sister may be standing outside the front door and may be aware of what is going on inside. In addition, other older adults may be driving to a particular location and letting children out to go around and scout.

That is the purpose of the Bill and the sentiment behind it. I hope Members of all parties and none will come on board and I hope we can get the Bill through to Second Stage, where we can bring forward amendments that will strengthen it. I believe this will address a huge gap that exists. I think we should keep calling it "Fagin's law" because everybody knows about Fagin and "pick a pocket or two". The word would get out to young people in order that they understand it is not right for somebody to groom them for inappropriate behaviours and in order that they know the difference between right and wrong. It is not right to be going around people's houses, seeing if windows are open, and then going back to tell other adults or selling the information. To refer to the drug trade, down through the years we have always heard of the "runner", which is always the younger person who might pick up a package and drop it elsewhere, although this is adult-driven.

That is the purpose of the Bill. I thank my research department, in particular, Áine Doyle, for helping me prepare the Bill and bring it to the floor of the House today. A lot of work has gone into it and I hope the Government will be supportive of it.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Is the Bill opposed?

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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No. It is an important topic to debate and we are aware of the Greentown study in particular. I look forward to the debate on the Bill.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Since this is a Private Members' Bill, Second Stage must, under Standing Orders, be taken in Private Members' time.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."