Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide an update on the expansion of youth diversion projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35741/22]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister provide an update on the expansion of youth diversion projects and make a statement on the matter?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Justice Plan 2022 commits to the implementation of the Government’s youth justice plan whose aims include preventing offending behaviour from occurring and diverting children and young adults who commit a crime away from further offending and involvement with the criminal justice system. The youth diversion projects, YDPs, are community-based projects that offer that vital support to the statutory Garda youth diversion programme. There are currently 105 YDPs across the State and the youth justice strategy commits to expanding the network to provide cover to every child and young person who needs to access their services. I see Deputy Stanton in the Chamber. He did a great amount of work in developing that strategy, work that is being carried on by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne.

Youth justice services were allocated an additional €6.7 million in funding for 2022. The Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, announced on 22 June that more than 50 youth diversion projects will benefit from this additional funding. This funding has been provided to do the following: extend the boundaries of some of the YDPs to increase geographical coverage, as provided for in the youth justice strategy; increase funding to engage with the cohort of referrals who are harder to reach; provide additional early intervention supports; provide family supports to the relatives of those young people engaged with the YDPs; and further develop the Solas Project in Dublin.

It will be of interest to the Deputy that, of this €6.7 million, €780,000 has been set aside to establish a limited number of YDPs this year to cover geographical areas which cannot be covered sufficiently through the expansion of existing YDPs. The projects are funded through my Department but, as the Deputy will appreciate, the funding needs of individual YDPs differ based on a range of criteria such as the geographical area in which the project operates, the number of referrals to the YDP and the number of referrals who are in the hard-to-reach cohort, among other things. My Department offers funding appropriate to the needs of each YDP as determined by standard budgetary process. Funding fluctuates based upon the YDPs' determination of their needs and the budget available for youth justice services each year.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I join with the Minister in complimenting Deputy Stanton on the amount of work he did on this. The YDPs have used Government resources to target people and families in a very meaningful way. Some areas are not being picked up on. The YDPs are based in large urban centres. There is scope within the new budget announced just a few weeks ago to operate in rural areas. What targets are there in respect of rural areas? There is no clear guidance or mechanism to encourage young people back into education. There is a certain percentage of people we should target at a very young age with a view to keeping them in education to prevent crime becoming a way of life for them. These projects have predominantly operated in urban settings and they have worked well in some settings. Has the Minister or the Department looked at the need outside of the main urban centres? Have they looked at the statistics on crime, young people coming before courts, people not attending schools and so forth and made a decision as to how to better target different areas through the YDPs?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I fully agree. I acknowledge the youth diversion projects in my own county. Knowing the fantastic work they do with young people, it is absolutely vital that they are supported. The Department has identified gaps and is looking at areas in which the current 105 YDPs cannot provide the needed service and support through expansion. This list has not been finalised and we will need to have further engagement with An Garda Síochána but the provisional list identifies south and west Wicklow, south Monaghan, Claremorris and some surrounding areas, part of north Tipperary including Thurles and Templemore, west Cork north of Bandon and east Clare. This will go to public consultation and expressions of interest will be sought. These areas have already been identified and we are engaging with An Garda Síochána. This is something that will be of interest to the Deputy. It is about trying to expand the services that are there. That is where the additional funding provided in the last two weeks is going. However, I acknowledge that more work needs to be done. That €780,000 has been set aside specifically to expand into some of those areas which the Deputy has noted as not having been covered to date.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister mentioned her Department's consultation with An Garda Síochána, which has the information at first hand. Has it looked at other State agencies that have information that might be pulled together to identify particular areas of concern at which youth diversion projects could be targeted? I am thinking about young people who are not attending school or who are dropping out early. I ask the Minister to instruct her Department to look at those statistics, which may be held by other Departments and other State authorities, and to put them all together. An Garda Síochána has a very significant amount of information but perhaps there are other State agencies that could help identify young people so as to ensure that resources are targeted at them and that they are kept away from a life of crime or prevented from getting involved in crime in the first instance.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I compliment the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, on the work they are doing in this area. As my colleague, Deputy Michael Moynihan, has just said, it is of great importance. How is the youth joint agency response to crime, which is related to this question in many ways, going? Are there plans to expand it?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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An Garda Síochána is the agency we initially engage with when identifying areas in which there is a need to expand but we also engage with the 105 YDPs to determine whether the expansion of their services can serve the areas where they currently do not operate. That is where these issues have been identified. We are not just working with An Garda Síochána but with the youth diversion projects who, in turn, are working on the ground with many of the organisations and agencies Deputy Michael Moynihan referred to. I will get absolute clarity with regard to further engagement because expressions of interest will be sought before anything is finalised. The list I read out is not finalised.

Expansion of the youth joint agency response to crime is also being looked at. As Deputy Stanton will know from his work on the strategy, it is very beneficial. The increased level of funding for this year is not only for the expansion of the youth diversion projects but for many other strands in this area. I will get a stronger note on that issue for the Deputy.