David Norris (Independent)

I always enjoyed playing. Nowadays it is not acted out in that way. Rather, it happens in front of a screen in an impersonal and dispassionate manner as one is simply splatting a very realistic target. I wonder if these technological advances and games may lie behind one of the most chilling aspects of one of the cases, namely, that the young person accused sat through the court proceedings almost catatonic. He displayed no emotion whatever, despite the fact that he had horribly and savagely murdered a young teenager of his own age with a hammer and left his victim's mother bereft. As far as I know, the woman did not have a partner and her son was her only child.

The inability of the accused child to imaginatively comprehend what he had done is worrying. The greatest preventative measure against violence and criminal behaviour is to encourage young people to imagine the experience of the other person and feel for themselves what it would be like to be on the receiving end of the hammer or what it would be like to be a middle-aged person from whom their only offspring has been brutally, capriciously and unnecessarily removed.

There is something new in these cases. Our society is changing in many ways and there is much greater violence from adults and, astonishingly and regrettably, also from children. Perhaps it stems from the fact that there is a complete lack of a moral centre in Ireland because we have been so let down. The State has been found in breach of its obligations to children. I am glad the Minister of State has included in the Bill provisions to protect children in institutions against bullying and being terrified and against physical and sexual abuse because it was routine in the institutions to which the State surrendered such children in the past.

The State has failed to be a moral centre and we also have the terribly sad situation whereby the church has lost moral authority because it was not honest about human sexuality. While it was making po-faced statements about perfectly respectable old poofs like myself, priests were simultaneously moving around the place like a three card trick version of find the lady. Some of these priests were serious and serial child molesters. Unfortunately, apart from those who have individually won the right to respect, like Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe and a few others, and there are wonderful people still in the church, as a body it has lost its respect. Society has lost its moral centre. There are many things to respect and to look up to. In terms of the general protection of children, I agree with much of what was said earlier about the need to provide positive role models and positive activities for them, although perhaps that is a discussion for another day.

I have some points to make that are directly relevant to the Bill, but in terms of the welfare of children we have heard about the drugs, the interventions of society and all the rest of it. I make this point and I will keep making it to every forum, whether it is appropriate or inappropriate, on the basis that one day some well-intentioned Minister will carry this point back to Government. In the area in which I live the one measure that will really help to reduce anti-social behaviour by children is the Breaking the Cycle scheme in terms of teaching, but it is defective. In some ways it is worse than if it was not in place. I see these wonderful, beautifully presented, well mannered children in Marlborough Street who are a real credit to their parents, but I know that in five or six years the majority of them will be on the needle. They will have been dumped off, having been given a glimpse of their potential through the Breaking the Cycle scheme, but then that assistance will be taken away.

If we want to save these children, we should continue that scheme. We should spend the money that is taken from the drug people and that is taken out of the veins of the people in these poor areas. We should put such money back into providing for these children not only all the way through primary school but through secondary school and university. The first few architects, lawyers and doctors who come through the system will be the role models for this society. That is where we should be investing the money. I very much hope this will happen.

I wish to ask about a clause covered in earlier legislation. It is an important section that was introduced in this House by Senator Ryan and me. It is the guardian ad litem provision which I understand has not been fully operated. Unfortunately, I will not be able to stay to hear all the Minister of State's reply but I will read it. I would be interested to know about the operation of the guardian ad litem provision. The House will remember this provision was introduced in Britain in the wake of the Maria Colville case where a girl was surrendered back to her parents by a local authority whom they then done to death. This provision was introduced to protect the rights of the child. We put this clause into legislation but for a certain period it was not operated because of financial constraints. There is a partial operation of this system now and it would be useful if the Minister of State would give a report to the House on where we stand in terms of its operation.

I point out because I am non-partisan that it was a Fianna Fáil Government that introduced this provision and it was introduced through this House. There was a major argument about it, but the then Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, brought the Bill back to Cabinet. The Bill had to be recommitted and the Minister of State did not get a very warm welcome in Cabinet when he did so, but he did it because he knew it was to provide for the welfare of children. At what stage is the operation of that provision?

In terms of the behaviour of children, attention deficit disorder was not recognised in my time nor was the impact of diet on behaviour. I listened to much commentary on this on radio. I heard one woman interviewed who had a disruptive child who would go into tantrums and who brought him to a special dietary consultant. It turned out that the ingestion of very ordinary food like sugar had an impact on the child's behaviour and when his diet was altered, his behaviour became perfectly normal. We have to bear in mind these stories and also have compassion for those parents who try to control their children who are completely and wildly out of control. They appeal for help from the State, but they do not always get it. It is perhaps because of a lack of money, but this excuse can be pleaded less and less these days when substantial revenues are accruing to the Exchequer.

My colleague, the Minister of State, is also a distinguished lawyer. The courts have played a role in this area in terms of reprimanding the State and the Oireachtas for neglecting the provision of residential accommodation. Judges have refused to sentence young offenders. They have said it is ridiculous to send young offenders to completely inappropriate institutions where young people are put in with hardened criminals or sent to institutions which are already over-crowded. If we care about our children, we need to provide the necessary resources. I welcome very much what the Minister of State said about the diversion programme in justice — that is the long-winded heading under which the juvenile liaison officer scheme is dealt with in the report. This scheme is a marvellous idea. It is being put on a statutory basis and I gather some funds and personnel have been made available to implement it. This is the type of measure that is necessary.

In my area there is a terribly decent young garda whom I met during the week. He recently married another garda and they are a delightful couple. He is a liaison officer and I remember sitting in the Cobalt Cafe in North Great George's Street having coffee with him and talking about the problem of juvenile delinquency. He pointed out that an awful lot of these children do not have the regulation family structure and what they ache for is a father figure. A Garda juvenile liaison officer in the community can be just this kind of figure for them, a person to whom they can learn to look up to and who can give them advice and be available for them albeit only on a fairly limited basis. I welcome that measure. It is the way to go.

I also welcome the fact that where parents wilfully ignore, disregard or even encourage criminal behaviour that affects other citizens, there should the power to require them to compensate the victims of the crimes committed by their children because of the lack of control that they exercise over them.

I also very much welcome the paragraph in which the Minister of State deals with the powers of court in regard to child offenders where community based options are available. Having committed an offence against society, the young person can be directed by the court not to waste his or her time in inappropriate detention but instead can be required to do something positive and put something back into society. That is part of a healing process. A child who does something wrong and perhaps even feels guilty about it can be required to do something positive. That does not diminishing the child but helps to develop the child. That can only be a good thing.

I welcome the fact that money has been provided and that 30 additional staff from the probation and welfare service have been made available to this unit. This has been an important report from the Minister of State. There is progress. He referred to the remaining obstacles to implementation. That is usually a code for the Department of Finance.