Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann: — recognises that anti-social behaviour continues to be a major problem in Ireland for people of all ages;

— noting that the factors leading to this behaviour are multi-faceted and that some work has been done to date to identify and resource solutions;

— accepting that Garda numbers per head of population remain far short of optimal levels;

— acknowledges that many people feel a sense of powerlessness to deal with this persistent problem, especially when those involved are aged under 18 years of age and can commit multiple offences before being dealt with by the current system;

— undertakes to provide additional resources to tackle the root causes of underage anti-social behaviour, with an additional strong emphasis on immediate consequences for actions; and

— commits to providing a full list of implementable legislative and resourcing reforms to lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas within six months of this motion being passed, based on contributions made during this debate, best practice in Ireland and internationally, and specifically assessing the following measures:

— the introduction of curfews for repeat offenders;

— community courts for rapid adjudication on anti-social behaviour offences, including the sanctioning of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs);

— ASBOs to be sanctioned without requiring Gardaí to turn up in court;

— immediate seizure on a permanent basis of high-value items such as scooters, quads, scramblers involved in anti-social activities or breaking the law;

— temporary removal of personal items such as Playstations, Xboxes, smartphones, for consistent reported anti-social behaviour;

— seizure of any items suspected to be obtained as a result of theft, i.e. a "mini-Criminal Assets Bureau";

— fines for parents where appropriate, or similar, proportionate measures that encourage co-operation and act as a deterrent;

— enhance the ability of shops to search and detain shoplifters pending the arrival of the Gardaí;

— meaningful restorative justice to pay back any damages;

— community service such as clean-ups with Garda vetted bodies such as Tidy Towns Groups or other organisations as may be appropriate;

— increased Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) investment programme for playgrounds and high-value, high-amenity areas targeted regularly by anti-social behaviour;

— a clearer legal definition of what constitutes reasonable self-defence when being threatened, or assaulted by underage perpetrators, including having items such as sticks, rocks, glass and other implements being thrown at individuals;

— zero tolerance for littering and increased fines as part of a wider social contract;

— further consideration for a ban on social media for under 16s as raised by Deputy Gogarty several months ago;

— better school attendance monitoring;

— a penalty points system for stronger action with repeat offenders;

— enrolment in education programmes where abuse is found to be motivated by the race, gender, sexual orientation or religious/cultural background;

— a faster, ticket-based reporting system for victims of anti-social behaviour to log and view progress on incidents, including an easier way to upload video and photo evidence to An Garda Síochána;

— a streamlined process for making statements and statutory declarations that frees up Garda time;

— additional educational and youth diversion resourcing;

— stronger focus on community policing to identify and deter potential anti-social behaviour;

— orders prohibiting anti-social groups from contacting one another for fixed periods; and

— recognition for positive social behaviour through a credits-based pathway system for valued community service or learning outcomes.

As an Independent Opposition TD, I get to table Private Members' business twice per year, if that. My first Private Members’ business motion during this term is devoted to the issue of antisocial behaviour because so many people in my constituency have expressed a sense of fear and powerlessness about what is happening, especially when the culprits are under the age of 18. I raised this matter with the Taoiseach before the summer for a lesser time period. I did get some sympathetic responses, but collectively we need to have a sense of urgency to deal with the situation. I am not one just to play petty politics and cast aspersions. I will give credit where credit is due. We have a task force on antisocial behaviour. The previous Government published the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027. However, as far as I know, that task force has not sat since before the election. We are still awaiting on youth justice strategy interim report. There have been efforts to increase the number of gardaí.

There has been a significant increase between 2008 and now. When I work it out, we have almost 20% fewer gardaí per head of population than we did in 2008, before the downturn led to a loss of numbers. Just at the end of the Celtic tiger era, we had a lot more gardaí per head of population.

People are giving out that when they do ring for gardaí, they cannot get a response. Last week, at a school in my constituency, a bunch of youths, some of whom were of primary school age, broke into a school and started stealing bikes. They were told by the staff to leave. They did not and instead started to throw stones at the staff. Gardaí were called but did not have a car available. They said their car was at the courts at the time. That is not an isolated case. I am not one for Garda-bashing, because I know the Garda is under-resourced. Members of the force do an absolutely fantastic job, given the constraints they face. We need to increase Garda numbers, which is partially mentioned in this motion, but we also need to make their work more effective.

The Minister himself has said we need to take gardaí away from the courts. At the moment, senior gardaí have to attend court if they want to apply for an ASBO, while other gardaí have to turn up at courts very regularly, which takes away from Garda time on the ground. In the context of this debate, I would like to see a commitment to a timescale for meaningful action in that regard.

I will bring the Minister's attention to some of the instances that are happening in my area and that I know are happening across the country, including in his constituency. For example, a 13-year-old boy was subject to a random attack and his eye socket was damaged. A pregnant lady was walking in one of the local parks and someone on a scooter circled her several times and brushed off her. In the same park, there are regularly gangs of youths hanging around in the playground, smoking and intimidating other people, again with no Garda or park ranger response because there are not enough park rangers or available gardaí. Another playground, which, as a councillor, I pushed for three years to be refurbished, was set on fire the week before last. Again, that was done by a couple of people. In my area, there are only four or five groups but they are committing regular instances of antisocial behaviour, sometimes with impunity, so they are becoming more emboldened over a period of time. It is happening everywhere, in Clondalkin, Newcastle, Saggart, Rathcoole, Lucan, Palmerstown - you name it, there are incidents there.

Sometimes, as was mentioned in the previous debate, if these perpetrators come across a newcomer to Ireland, then the racial tropes are thrown in as well. A lot of people do not know how they are supposed to react when a gang of youths are coming at them throwing sticks or stones. A mentor of a local football club, who was with his seven-year-old daughter, did not let a bunch of lads into a locker and was told that they knew where his car was, that they would find out where he lives and that he would be strung up higher than Jesus on the cross. That sort of intimidation is not acceptable.

I tabled a parliamentary question asking what case studies or case law shows what reasonable self-defence is when someone is being attacked. The question was ruled out of order, which leads me to suggest it very much depends on the case in question. People are quite afraid. For example, if people are coming at you with sticks, are you allowed to grab the stick out of their hands? Are you allowed to hit them to stop them hitting you? These are situations in which people want to know how they can defend themselves. Equally, we have to ensure vigilante gangs are not beating up kids, because there are hangers-on. That is what the motion is about, the hangers-on. It is not about the ringleaders, because the ringleaders will go through the system, but the hangers-on need deterrents.

I have proposed a number of things and I ask for support from the Opposition on them, as well as for suggestions from the Opposition and backbenchers for what we can do to try to deal with the root causes of antisocial behaviour. I am not saying there are not problems on that side but there are also no consequences or short, sharp shocks for people who are doing stuff right now. I have thrown out a couple of suggestions that have been called for by other groups. For example, in 2010, there was a call for community courts. This has also recently been reflected by RGDATA, which is calling for night courts for shoplifting. There was a situation in my constituency where people came in, stole bottles, came back in and threw the bottles over the staff. Another guy came in doing the whole shoulder exercise and walked out with a load of stuff from another convenience store. Retailers are fearful for their staff. They have absolute fear they will either end up being sued for defamation or else will have to let people walk out and take stuff willy-nilly, and that puts costs on consumers everywhere in the country.

I am looking for the following measures to further reform defamation and to allow for detention where it can be shown on camera that people are involved in shoplifting. Maybe we should also have on-the-spot fines for shoplifting. I am also looking for ASBOs to be sanctioned without requiring gardaí to turn up in court; for the immediate seizure of high-value items such as scooters, quads and scramblers where they are involved in antisocial behaviour; and the temporary removal of personal items such as PlayStations, Xboxes and smartphones from those reported to consistently engage in antisocial behaviour, that is, if it is feasible and I want responses in that regard. It may have to be a voluntary measure whereby the parents have to agree to give up these items. I know a commitment can be gained from parents that comes before the antisocial behaviour order, but that process takes too long so if parents are not playing ball, we should consider other sanctions such as fines where appropriate. We should have meaningful restorative justice to pay back damages. There are Tidy Towns groups and other organisations around the country, or it could be mirrored whereby Garda-vetted groups could facilitate the less serious offenders getting out and doing community clean-ups and community service. I would like to see curfews, for example, for the ones who are causing more trouble and restrictions on them contacting their friends for a period.

We also need to have CCTV. For too long, where the likes of playgrounds have been burned to a crisp or where special sculptures have been targeted, we cannot identify the culprits. The gardaí say they might be wearing masks, etc., but the communities I represent want CCTV and want more funding for CCTV.

I mentioned the need for a potential ban on social media, which was discussed at committee yesterday, so I will not go into too many details here. We also need a faster ticket-based reporting system so that victims of antisocial behaviour can log an incident and view the progress being made because due to the nature of how the system operates at present, victims do not know if their case is being followed up in any way. In the same vein, a streamlined process is required for gardaí so that if they are making a statement or some form of statutory declaration for a court, they could do it, in the same way as happened to a small degree during Covid, without having to go into court. We need community courts, fewer gardaí in courts and a stronger focus on community policing.

Equally, we need recognition for positive social behaviour. Even if people have been brought in through juvenile liaison or are told they have to do some community service, they should be recognised for the community service they actually do. These are just a couple of suggestions. At the moment, there are groups going around and my constituents are scared because they see them going about with no consequences. These groups are getting bolder and bolder and as they go through the system, they are more likely to end up with full criminal justice ramifications. We are trying to stop people before they get to that stage. Yes, we need to look at the carrots and I fully support that, but there are no sticks. If there are sticks that work, we need to try them as soon as possible.

Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)
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I welcome this debate and thank Deputy Gogarty and his staff for bringing it forward. It is a conversation that is long overdue. Antisocial behaviour is not some abstract issue or statistic on the pages of reports. It is happening in our towns and villages every day of the week. It is happening to shopkeepers who have to watch their shelves while being threatened, elderly people who feel unsafe while walking to the shop and families who see their local parks or playgrounds wrecked. It is even happening to teenagers themselves, many of whom are just trying to go about their business and get caught up in a culture of intimidation and fear.

Let me be clear. I support this motion because but is better to have this debate than to let things slide and continue as they are. We all know the shortcomings in policing in this country and we are serious about resolving them. We need to be honest. First, the motion rightly points to the root causes of antisocial behaviour. If we do not put real investment into prevention, youth diversion and giving young people better outlets, then we are just talking to ourselves. I look at those in west Cork who set up the Garda youth awards and what a huge success it has been to show this country what so many young people can do, and so well.

The things they do are absolutely brilliant. So many of them receive awards on the night but it sets something in place for their CVs going forward. It is an incredible event and it needs to be commended and copied throughout the country. Independent Ireland has said it plainly: early intervention is the only way forward. We need to put the money into schools, youth clubs, sports facilities and half of this problem will be prevented before it even begins. That is very often what is missing in the thinking.

Second, there is community policing. Time and time again, I have stood here and stated that the strength of policing is gardaí on the ground, not behind a desk. A garda who knows the name of a young fella can nip something in the bud before it escalates. That is the model that works. The motion should put that at the core, where it belongs. I look at the recent allocation of gardaí announced recently. Only one was announced for west Cork. That is an astonishing situation in which we find ourselves. There was one new garda for the whole of west Cork. That is scandalous. What message is that sending to existing Garda authority in west Cork? It shows anyone that their concerns and those of others are not being listened to. What do I tell the people of Drimoleague, whose Garda station is closed due to a lack of gardaí? Is it just "Sorry, hard luck"? That will not work and it will not be the answer for them when I go back there. The fact that we can now see clearly that this Government will not appoint gardaí to west Cork shows we will have to defend ourselves more and more with CCTV, though again we come unstuck there. I told the Minister already that the towns of Clonakilty, Skibbereen and Dunmanway have had their CCTV switched off for no good apparent reason. No matter who I write to, no one is taking responsibility. It is surely under the Department of justice to see that CCTV works in every town in the country where it exists. Some communities in west Cork are lucky to have it and they feel safe with it, but it is scandalous to think that it is switched off in those areas and no answer has been given to me after three or four months asking the same question, namely, why it was switched off and who has the controls to put it back on again.

Let us talk about Garda numbers. The motion says what we all know. The numbers are far too low, but saying it is not enough. Independent Ireland has hammered home this point. You cannot police on the cheap. Recruitment matters, but retention is just as critical. We are losing good gardaí because morale is on the floor. Paperwork is crushing them and they do not feel supported. They feel that changes will keep bleeding numbers. A motion in this House will not fix it. On paperwork, I do like the proposals to streamline statements and declarations. This is exactly the sort of thing we have been calling for. Let gardaí police. Let them do their jobs, not spend half the day filling in forms that could be simplified or digitalised. The seizure on a permanent basis of high-value items such as scooters, squads and scramblers involved in antisocial activities and the paying-back of any damages is meaningful justice for victims of crime and a stance that Independent Ireland would like to see actioned.

The motion also touches on protecting shopkeepers. Our party has raised this issue again and again. Shoplifting is rampant. Small businesses are being hammered and in rural Ireland farmers are seeing livestock stolen. Yes, we must give shopkeepers backup with the proper Garda support. They cannot be left carrying the can, dealing with these types of crime. I also welcome the call for clearer laws on self-defence. Ordinary people must know where they stand. If someone threatens them, their family or their property, they should not be left wondering if they will be dragged through the courts for defending themselves. That needs to be clarified once and for all. Again, I support restorative justice but not instead of people facing penalties for crimes. It has to be in tandem, especially for repeat offenders. That is prevention in action. When a young person has to look at a victim in the eye and give something back to the community they have damaged, they will stop what they are doing.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and commend Deputy Gogarty and his staff on putting it together.

It often baffles me that when we had 9,000 and 10,000 gardaí on the streets or in the total force, there were local Garda stations. If anyone said they were not doing much, they knew everything that was going on in the area. They did not have to be taking out the book doing this one, that one and the other one. They were able to keep manners on the area in their own way. Sadly, it is gone now with the phone straight into the face if there is a garda anywhere the minute they do anything. That is not acceptable, to be quite frank about it. One time, if there was a robbery in a local rural area and if something was stolen or anything went wrong or if there was a bit of a scrap, the local garda sorted it out. They did not have to be going to the DPP many times; they would have it sorted out in a matter of hours. We have lost that. The change was done over the last seven or eight years. It was not in the Minister's time, in fairness. It was done before this. The way it went was they decided to start closing local Garda stations. As I always say, the local garda was always able to find out what was going on. When a robbery or something happened, what we call a crow on the wire gave the information and the local garda would know who was giving the information. We have lost all that.

Right around this country, there are youngsters flying around on these e-scooters with no insurance or anything. They can drive into anyone and there is no regulation. Where are we going with this? If we go out in a car or a tractor, we have to have insurance. These can just fly along out past you, go in through traffic and there is no regulation. I remember in the previous Dáil, there were supposed to be tags going onto repeat offenders so that it would be known where they were. Where has that gone? It seems to have disappeared. The prisons are full. There is no point in saying it. The Minister is not going to build a heap of them overnight. We understand that. Why have we not tagged these offenders with a tracker to know where they all are? It is a fairly simple thing to do. The sad part about it is that if a garda uses a baton now, he is called a criminal nearly, whereas at one time they used it and they kept manners on many a gouger who was getting out of hand and got them into line. On top of that, we need to start getting youngsters to show respect for the things we were brought up to show respect for. At the moment, as Deputy Gogarty said, there are gangs going around. Yes, we try to put in sports or youth club facilities or whatever facilities we can, but once we do that people still have to show respect. They cannot be going around in a mob around people such as the pregnant woman Deputy Gogarty mentioned or around other people. We cannot have that going on in a country.

Gardaí will not be everywhere around the place - there is no point in saying we will have them everywhere - but I remember the local garda or sergeant once being able to control the area. I know things have got more sophisticated and that there are different crimes that go on that were not investigated at one time. I understand all that but we have lost the touch of the common local knowledge. Local knowledge is what will tell you everything, from a local garda living in an area. At the moment, in my area between Headford and where I live, about 40 miles away, there will be one Garda car on at night. It does not have that resource. With the best will in the world, they cannot police an area or look after it. It is like Nanci Griffith's song "From a Distance". We knew all our gardaí one time in the area. Now, you would not have a bull's clue who is coming to you because they are coming from a different area. For the sake of the Minister's Department, we have to look outside the box. If a gang is going around, why not take the phones off them? Why not have that facility to know what is going on? Why not start laying down the law or putting tags on? It is becoming a revolving door. It is wasting serious amounts of Garda time and, as has been pointed out, gardaí are in the courts nearly all day. That is not solving anything. We need to look at that area as well. First, we need to give them whatever facilities we can to try to bring them with us, but if there are ones who are not listening or are not toeing the line, then it has to get sharper.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Gogarty and members of the Independent Technical Group for tabling this motion on antisocial behaviour. I am very aware of the impact that antisocial behaviour - many times it is criminal behaviour - has on individuals living in local communities. Regrettably, it appears to be the case that significant numbers of people who are engaged in antisocial behaviour, or the criminal behaviour I was talking about, are under the age of 18, which we refer to as children in our law. Notwithstanding that, the effects of antisocial behaviour are significant and the effects of criminal activity by children can be very specific and significant. It can result in people suffering from physical violence, theft of personal property, destruction of shared amenities or spaces and more hidden harms including individual or collective trauma, reluctance to report future incidents to the authorities for fear of retaliation and diminished feelings of pride or acceptance in one's local community.

That was very apparent to me from what Deputy Gogarty described as the instance he encountered in his community. It is important to emphasise, however, that the people involved in this type of behaviour are a small minority of people. I accept that their impact can be significant but in general most people in Ireland, and indeed most people under 18 years of age, are respectful and they recognise that Ireland should be, and remains, a safe community. We have a situation in Ireland where it is a pretty peaceful country. People might ask, "Where do you get that statistic from?" I get it from a global index of peacefulness throughout the world. The index that came out for 2025 indicated that Ireland was second in terms of peacefulness after Iceland. Notwithstanding this, I am conscious that this is no comfort to people who are subjected to consistent antisocial behaviour or criminal activity. It is for that reason the Government is very determined to tackle antisocial behaviour. The reason we are not opposing this motion is that very many of the proposals set forward by Deputy Gogarty in his motion are proposals we agree with and which we will seek to implement through the programme for Government.

It is important to point out that many things are being done to ensure that we can get on top of this issue of antisocial behaviour and criminal activity by people under 18 years of age or slightly over that age. As mentioned by Deputy Fitzmaurice, the most effective way of ensuring we have safe communities is to have a highly visible Garda presence in our communities. I am pleased to say that recruitment of members into the force is going in the right direction. I was at a passing-out ceremony in Templemore in August where 154 new recruits passed out. When we go up there in November, we are going to get to 200 recruits passing out then. Twice already this year, the intake into Templemore has been around the figure of 200. If I can get 200 as an intake into Templemore four or even five times a year, we will find ourselves getting the numbers up significantly in An Garda Síochána. At present we have 14,250 in the force. I want to see us get to 15,000. If we can get the good recruitment up and we get around 200 coming in from each intake, that will be very significant. I heard what Deputy Collins said about west Cork. In many instances he can blame his colleague behind him, Deputy O'Flynn, because 20 gardaí went to Cork city from the recruits who came out in August.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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What about the ones who retired?

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I do not get involved in allocating gardaí around the country-----

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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You will take the credit for it though.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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-----and it would be inappropriate for a Minister for justice to do so. The Garda Commissioner does take into account what the operational needs are in certain areas, and that is why he decides where the new recruits should be allocated. We will all work together to ensure we can get more gardaí into our communities.

It is also important to point out that the 2025 budget provided an unprecedented allocation of over €2.48 billion to An Garda Síochána. This is a 27% increase since 2020. The funding allows for the continued recruitment of gardaí. As I said, at present we have approximately 14,276 gardaí. The Deputy is right that we need to get them out into the community. Part of the way we can achieve that is by recruiting more civilian staff into the force to do the work that can be done by civilians. At present there are 3,675 civilian staff in An Garda Síochána. We have also made changes by increasing the age at which people can be recruited into An Garda Síochána. It used to be the case that a person had to be under 35. Now a person can apply for the job up to the age of 50 and we have extended mandatory retirement to 62. A new Garda recruitment campaign was launched at the Ploughing Championships by the Garda Commissioner and me on Tuesday. I would ask people to consider a career in the force. It is a very worthwhile career. It is a job in the public service and when people join the force, they very much enjoy it.

Other things that are being done include the establishment of community safety partnerships and increasing the community safety innovation fund to support that roll-out. People will be aware that under the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, there will be 36 local community safety partnerships. These will play a central role in ensuring that local communities and the Garda are informed about where resources need to be targeted in order to confront antisocial behaviour. Members here will be aware of the community safety fund. It is a very significant asset. In 2024, over €3 million was allocated to projects nationwide. Themes from the 2024 successful applicants included projects aimed at addressing antisocial behaviour, domestic violence, drug-related intimidation and social inclusion.

I believe it was Deputy Fitzmaurice who mentioned that we need youth diversion programmes. One of the things I have noticed since I became the Minister for justice is all the excellent work being done in youth diversion programmes, and there is a lot of excellent work being done by the Probation Service. They probably do not publicise it enough - we do not get to hear about it enough - but a huge number of young people who get involved in the pathway of antisocial behaviour or criminal activity are diverted from it by the youth diversion initiatives. The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, is beside me here and he plays a very central role in respect of that. A suite of interventions is available within the system, ranging from engagement with the diversion projects to the bail supervision scheme, the young person's probation and community sanctions. The Government has committed to a review of the Children Act. One of the many things mentioned here related to imposing responsibilities on the parents to a greater extent. Section 98 of the Children Act 2001 provides for a whole variety of sanctions that can be imposed by a court on children who are offenders and on the parents of those children as well. I am asking my Department to look at this again to ensure that the courts are aware and do in fact have a range of options available to them.

It is important to note that the Department funds 93 youth diversion projects that are community-based multi-agency youth crime prevention initiatives designed to divert young people who have been, or are at risk of becoming, involved in antisocial behaviour. By the end of this year, once we introduce the youth diversion projects in north Tipperary and east Clare, there will be full coverage of youth diversion projects across the country. This will be a significant achievement. I am aware that Members rightly want to focus on the antisocial behaviour and criminal activity of a small group, but there is availability there to resolve it by trying to get those kids into youth diversion programmes.

Deputy Fitzmaurice is right about local gardaí, and I think Deputy Collins said this as well, who play a central role. Having been in the job for nearly eight months now, my assessment of An Garda Síochána is that they do have this local knowledge. In places I go around the country, to Garda stations in Ballylinan, Carlow or Gorey, the gardaí have a good local knowledge. Community gardaí are a bit like a very successful local politician; they know their community and do their work on the ground. The youth diversion projects also work with schools and local communities. My Department liaises with the Department of Education and Youth to promote initiatives that encourage pro-social behaviour among our young people.

Almost €48 million was allocated under the UBU Your Place Your Space scheme in 2024. Budget 2025 secured an increase of 7%, so the funding is now €50.7 million. Money and resources are being allocated to deal with these children who are involved in antisocial behaviour.

I also take into account what Deputy Gogarty said about further legislation. There is a lot of legislation on the book at present to deal with this type of antisocial behaviour, whether it is the Criminal Damage Act 1991, the public order Act 1994, the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 or the theft and fraud Act. There are mechanisms available. If further legislative intervention is required, we will consider it. We do have to recognise, however, that this is a complex issue to respond to. I welcome the fact we are debating it here but we need that broader approach of education, policing and trying to get parents involved to ensure that we do not get young people on the path to criminality. The Minister of State, Deputy Collins, will stay here to deal with any responses.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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I very much welcome the motion brought forward by my colleague Deputy Paul Gogarty. In recent weeks, the new Commissioner has taken office. It is really important to say that the previous Commissioner left the morale of the force in tatters. This is why the Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, now has a major job at hand in recruitment and retention in the force. I believe the first thing that needs to be reviewed is the new policing model, particularly in relation to the geographical areas. Mayo is in a district of the north west, with Roscommon and Longford.