Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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17. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will outline the impact to date of new approaches to crime in areas of high incidence of crime and high risk of young people being recruited into a life of crime, and if there are lessons for the future. [60453/22]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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This question I am taking for Deputy Bruton seeks to ascertain the impact to date of new approaches to crime in areas of high incidence of crime and of high risk of young people being permanently involved in crime, and what are the results.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department is committed to protecting all communities, especially those most affected by crime, to implementing policies designed to prevent our young people from falling into crime and, where they do, to providing them with a pathway to a better future free from crime.

It is important to say Ireland is, for the most part, a very safe place to live. According to the Garda Síochána public attitudes survey results published last week, less than 20% of those surveyed perceived crime in their local area as being a serious problem, and public trust in An Garda Síochána remains extremely high at 91%. While this level of support is unprecedented internationally, there is no room for complacency. There are clearly communities that are disadvantaged and where decent law-abiding residents are subjected to levels of crime that are not typical of the overall national situation. Those communities, whether it is in Darndale, Drogheda or Cherry Orchard, to mention a few, deserve our support and are getting it.

To support youth justice services and to ensure delivery of key objectives in the youth justice strategy, the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, secured an additional allocation of €6.7 million in budget 2022 and a further €2.5 million in 2023. This funding allows for expansion of services offered to young people by the youth diversion projects, which are funded by my Department. Three innovative pilot community safety schemes have also been trialled in Dublin's north inner city, Waterford and Longford. These pilot schemes are to run for 24 months with a view to then rolling them out nationwide. In addition, the community safety innovation fund was established in April 2021 to reinvest money seized from the proceeds of crime into community safety projects. A total of €2 million was awarded in funding across 22 projects, and a further €3 million in funding has been already been secured under budget 2023.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Justice Plan 2022 commits to working to break the link between gangs and the children they seek to recruit, and we will continue to roll out the evidence-based community intervention programme "Greentown", which seeks to break the link between children who are engaged or at risk of engaging with a criminal gang. Additionally, in line with the commitment in the programme for Government and the youth justice strategy, my Department has this month launched a public consultation on appropriate diversion processes for young adults aged 18 to 24 who come into contact with the criminal justice system. It is well recognised internationally that more considered responses by justice systems for this age group may produce better results.

My Department is progressing the criminal justice (exploitation of children in the commission of offences) Bill, which aims to deal with those criminal elements who exploit children to advance their criminal activities. This Bill will criminalise adults who induce or groom children into committing offences, and I hope to bring it to Government for publication later this month.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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By way of supplementary, I ask the extent to which the Minister and her Department have evaluated the measures to distract young people away from a life of crime. How successful are they? Is there evidence of a metric being taken to enable the Department and Deputy Humphreys, as Minister, to find out how successful the programmes are?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As I say, the Government continues its active priority focus on combating antisocial behaviour. Of course, we appreciate the damaging effect it can have on the quality of life for local communities.

A range of commitments are set out in the programme for Government and the Justice Plan 2022. There is included, in 2023, a €5 million increase in the overtime budget for An Garda Síochána to more than €100 million to support high-visibility policing to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour. In line with a programme for Government commitment, the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, established the expert forum on antisocial behaviour. The forum will consider the effectiveness of existing legislation and propose new ways forward, including new powers for An Garda Síochána and additional interventions to support parenting of offenders. We keep all of these matters under review.

As the Deputy knows there is a big focus on diverting young people away from anti-social behaviour. We have the youth justice strategy and a number of other diversions projects to help them.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I urge the Minister of State in particular to advance the work he is beginning on a joint agency response to crime with regard to young offenders up to the age of 24. There is a necessity to target the 5% of this group of who become persistent offenders. They are an extremely vulnerable group in many ways but there are persistent offenders who slip through the very successful youth diversion programmes we have that work so very well for so many children.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. The Minister of State, Deputy Browne is committed to the youth diversion projects. He has done a huge amount of work in this area. As Deputy Carroll MacNeill knows, these projects provide an invaluable support to complement the work of An Garda Síochána in addressing youth crime and protecting local communities.