Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and acknowledge that although Senator Power was due to take this slot, she is unavoidably absent and I am filling in for her. I thank the Minister for the progress that has been made in her portfolio and the efforts she is making with restricted funds and so on. It is very easy to be critical but the entire matter of youth justice is evolving. There are no easy-fix answers and we probably will never have the utopian situation in which a youth justice system is not needed. My party feels very strongly on this subject. In 2001 it brought in the Children Act and at that time it considered the models in New Zealand and New South Wales and tried to copy what they had achieved, as they had made significant progress. Later on, Fianna Fáil appointed Barry Andrews as the first Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, followed by Deputy Smith. It is welcome that the Minister has been elevated to a full Cabinet position as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, which is appropriate and is a further step in the right direction. As Minister of State with responsibility for children, Deputy Smith introduced a National Youth Justice Strategy 2008-2010, on which I believe the Minister has built and to which she probably has made some changes.

Unfortunately, the rate of progress has sometimes been criticised, and, as a practising solicitor, albeit not practising as much lately as heretofore, I note the importance of the Garda youth diversion projects, the YJForum and so on. Their purpose is to prevent crime, to find out what is happening at an early stage and to try to address it. The difficulty is that much of this activity starts when a person is between the age of ten and 12 and by the time teenagers become 16 or 17 and are in and out of detention centres and then jail, it becomes a somewhat repetitive situation. My view, with which I believe most people agree, is that early intervention is highly desirable. I also seek counselling, education and proper treatment when people are inside. It should not be a case of just locking people up, particularly young people, in the hope they will be fully reformed on their release after six or 12 months. I also acknowledge the tremendous work being done under the auspices of the Garda Síochána youth and children strategy. Again, I note Members are considering a scenario in which the focus on youth justice 20 years ago was minimal. I have already noted that my party initiated some welcome changes, and the Minister is carrying the baton and hopefully will take it to another level. I have personal experience on the ground as to how the gardaí who are dedicated to youth justice and to dealing with young people operate. Detention is a last resort, as they try to deal with such young people outside the courts by issuing warnings to them and trying to get them in line. This works quite well and progress has been made.

I welcome the Minister's decision on the Oberstown development and hope this matter can proceed quickly. I acknowledge the financial circumstances are constrained but it is very important to have the new facility in Oberstown up and running and fully operational. It is a source of particular concern and worry to me when one hears experienced judges criticising politicians, the Minister, the Oireachtas and the Government because of a lack of places. I refer in particular to the strong statement made not too long ago by Judge Ann Ryan with regard to juvenile courts to the effect that judges' hands are tied and that children are being kept in hospitals and places that are not appropriate for juvenile justice. While these criticisms are hard-hitting as far as the Minister is concerned, Members must deal with the situation as they find it and try to improve and develop a strategy.

As for the youth justice strategy, I refer to what has happened in 2012. The Irish Youth Justice Service has been based in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and operates across two Departments, namely, the Departments of Children and Youth Affairs and Justice and Equality. It is staffed by officials from both Departments.

The Minister's remit overlaps with that of the Department of Justice and Equality but she should have a prior role in determining where youth justice ends. The Minister for Justice and Equality answers ultimately in that regard but the Minister, as Minister for children, should take a leading role in ensuring that children from a young age to adulthood are dealt with. Her function as Minister for children should have priority in one sense over that of the Minister for Justice and Equality, whose function is very broad. I have been in the Department of Justice and Equality on Stephen's Green on a number of occasions; it is huge and cumbersome. The Minister, as Minister for children, should take a hands-on approach, and I am not saying she is not, to dealing with the area of young people and crime.

The main legislation covering youth justice is the Children Act 2001. It is important for the Minister to ensure that the children's detention centre at Oberstown, Lusk, will be fully operational and that it is not just a place for detaining people because education has a critical role.

The then Minister, Deputy Brendan Smith, set out my party's strategy for 2008 to 2010, which included five high-level goals. When responding the Minister might indicate whether she is embracing the strategy or improving on it. If she is I would welcome that in terms of determining where we can go from here. The five high-level goals in the strategy outlined by the then Minister, Deputy Brendan Smith, are to provide leadership and build public confidence in the youth justice system; to work to reduce offending by diverting young people from offending behaviour; to promote the greater use of community sanctions, which is essential, and initiatives to deal with young people who offend; to provide a safe and secure environment for detained children which will assist their early reintegration into the community. In that regard I am concerned about Judge Ryan's intervention; and to strengthen and develop information and data sources in the youth justice system to support more effective policies and services.

As I said, this is an evolving process. I wish the Minister well. It is a very difficult brief. From the outside looking in we might sometimes think the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has an easy touch, so to speak. I know that is not the case and that she has very difficult issues to deal with. I hope that by the end of her tenure in two years time she will be able to say she moved on the 2011 levels and achieved X, Y and Z. Regardless of who the Minister is in ten years time, I hope we will have made much more progress than we have made to date. There is no utopian fix to youth justice. Unfortunately, in the society we live in, we will probably never eliminate youth crime. We can only strive to contain it and make improvements.