Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the Senators who have contributed to the debate; it has been great to witness their interest in the issue of youth justice. It is important to debate the issue and I have listened to a variety of contributions in which Senators stressed the importance of a range of topics, including primarily the need for early intervention. There has also been a strong focus on the need for rehabilitation once young people come in contact with the justice system, the need to examine the broad variety of factors that lead young people to offend and the need to intervene at a variety of levels. A number of points were made on which I will need to obtain further information which I will forward it to the relevant Senators.

Senators Denis O'Donovan and Imelda Henry and a number of others asked about the forthcoming youth justice action plan which will be launched next week and covers the years 2014 to 2018. It will focus on changing the offending behaviour of young people involved in the youth justice system. It will directly complement the work and policy outline of the children's framework, the overall strategy my Department will develop for young people in the next few years. It will also form part of the national anti-crime strategy being developed by the Department of Justice and Equality as part of its White Paper on crime. Its focus is to continue the downward trend in high volume crimes perpetrated by young people and reduce the necessity for detention.

Youth crime constitutes 15% of all crimes, excluding road traffic offences. The typical offences in which young people become involved are public order offences, as has been stated, as well as alcohol and drugs misuse. It is, as Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú said, often a very distressing experience for the members of the public, older people in particular, who come into contact with anti-social behaviour. We know that youth crime will always be a concern, as many Senators have said. There has also been a lot of talk about research.

We know from hard data that most young people grow out of crime. That is the reality. It is worth noting the achievements to date. Since the first national youth justice strategy which was commenced, as mentioned by Senators Diarmuid Wilson and Denis O'Dovovan, by the then Minister, Deputy Brendan Smith, the number of children sentenced to detention by the courts on criminal conviction has consistently dropped. The operational costs of detention have reduced by more than 30 per cent. The capital costs and the space required in the new national detention centre being built at Oberstown are approximately 50 per cent of what was considered necessary in 2008. For the information of Senators, there are vacancies at the centre. We had a demand earlier for more places but that demand appears to have levelled off. A feature of requests for detention from the courts is that there is this variation and one is not quite sure why. I asked the question at the time when we were getting many of those referrals, respecting obviously the separation of powers. It is important that we keep clear data of those children who are being referred for detention and the reason.

We have developed the new action plan in consultation with other Departments and, obviously, criminal justice agencies and other appropriate organisations. We have also asked young people for their views.

The individual elements of the Youth Justice Action Plan 2014-2018, the young people's framework, and the national anti-crime strategy should all contribute to the ambition, which most Senators have shared today, not just react to the recurring problems but set a vision for the country of a reduction in youth crime and that our young people will grow up to be responsible citizens capable of making a positive and productive contribution to society. It was agreed by everybody who contributed that early intervention is key but that the youth justice system will have to deal with more vulnerable young people. Clearly, Senators have said it is not enough to detain people. We have to try to get better outcomes from that detention. That means different programmes, educational programmes and staff training. Senator Jillian van Turnhout made the point about staff training. Such training is extremely important as is ongoing support to staff who are dealing with young people who are in these situations because the behaviour can be extremely challenging. We have seen such comments from HIQA reports. This is not behaviour which is easy to manage, often when a young person gets to the point of being in detention. We should invest in training and certainly it is an issue we need to consider in respect of the developments in Oberstown.

A number of individual points have been made by Senators. Senator Imelda Henry mentioned the need to focus on the young people who are in direct provision. I have had discussions with the Department of Justice and Equality on that issue.

Senator Jillian van Turnhout made a number of points. There appears to be some disagreement in the House as to precisely what the research is saying. I note what Senator Aideen Hayden said about today's Oireachtas report but I have not seen it. We are definitely more data rich about our children than ever before. Given that we have invested in the Growing Up in Ireland study, the state of the nation's children report and the very useful annual report which monitors the effectiveness of the youth diversion programmes, we have much more data about children.

In the youth policy document I am launching next week, we highlight the need not necessarily for more research, although there may be some specialist areas, but to integrate the data to hand. I agree with the need to have high quality information on what is happening to children. I will ask the Department to examine specifically what gaps there are in the system and where we should be going because we are funding more research and we should be possible to have the kind of data suggested by Senators.

Senator Lorraine Higgins pointed to the links between homelessness and children who have been in care. I am developing a cross-departmental approach to children in care. We need a cross-departmental charter for children in care in order that every Department is clear on its responsibilities particularly for the 6,000 children who are in care. We have taken over the care of these children, obviously many still have contact with their parents, but each Department needs to be clear about the role it can play in helping these young people who have been in care and who are particularly vulnerable. Although we have some very good outcomes of children who have been in care remaining in education, there is a very vulnerable group. From her previous work, Senator Aideen Hayden would be very familiar with that group.

In the near future I will bring forward the aftercare legislation which will provide for an automatic opportunity for a person in care to have an assessment of need in respect of aftercare. We are spending several millions of euro on aftercare for children. We do have a national policy and great progress has been made but one cannot underestimate the needs of young people who have been in care. They are the more vulnerable group and need much help to make the transition from care to adult life.

The Government is taking a national approach to the provision of special care facilities. We are increasing the number of special care places this year and will have doubled the number from 16 to 35 by 2016. We have a need for extra places and a number are coming on stream this year. I do not have figures for the number of children remanded in custody and how it compares with previous years. I will ask for those and get them for Senator Jillian van Turnhout as well as the response to the UN committee. In terms of court reporting and being aware of what is happening in courts, the Senator made a number of points which I will follow up. That we have changed the in camerarule and that Carol Coulter is doing the court reporting research means that we know more about the experience of children in court. Both of those initiatives, one by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, and the other by me, means that the public will be more informed about the complexity of cases before the children's court.

I have responded to most of the points made by Senator Aideen Hayden. She said we need to look at the social and economic circumstances in detention centres and in the youth justice system and how that impacts on them. The Government has committed €15 million to the ABC programme, the area based childhood programme, and Atlantic Philanthropy has given a further €15 million in order that we can work in areas where children have been identified as having greater needs. I worked intensively with their parents at an early stage. That is an important initiative and one that could be developed further. In fact, I would like to see the same happening with the young people we are talking about, to get that intensive intervention in place.

Senator Feargal Quinn mentioned looking at some of the initiatives that have been taken in respect of community sanctions and community involvement. Those points are well made. We can certainly continue to develop more community interventions.

I thank Senator Martin Conway for his comments in respect of the Child and Family Agency and the inter-agency approach we are taking. I think that is the right way to proceed.

Senator Diarmuid Wilson wants to give me more work to do. I take the point he makes about Youthreach. We need to work on a cross-departmental basis with the young people who are failing in school. That education welfare, the home school and school completion programme comes under the remit of the Child and Family Agency gives us an opportunity to do that. Youthreach is working with those young people from the ages of 15 to 25. I take his point and agree that the range of services from which these young people would benefit needs to be examined. I believe Youthreach is working very effectively with many of the young people but it may be that more services are required.

Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú mentioned the need for individual support and the difference that mentoring, youth organisations and the right role model can make for young people. That is the reason we continue to support the youth sector, including, Foróige, as mentioned by Senator Aideen Hayden.

Many of the interventions of the Garda and youth organisations are really making a difference in changing the direction of some young people and interrupting the cycle of criminality. I thank the Senators for their input today and for taking this topic so seriously. Many worthwhile suggestions have been made. I will revert to Senators on the matters on which I have not been able to give the details requested.