Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is great to see our colleagues here today. They are very welcome.

Sinn Féin will be supporting this Bill. I will begin by quoting a speech made by Deputy Mark Ward last year when he was speaking on this Bill in the Dáil. He said:

We need to ensure that children are not groomed into crime and that they can ... be children - playing football, taking music lessons, hanging out with their friends and doing all of the things that children do to reach their full potential. To ensure that this happens, we need to resource and invest in our communities so they are resilient and resistant to crime. A resourced community is a safe community and a safe community is a thriving community.

We cannot say it enough publicly, to the community and to ourselves, that a resourced community is a safe community and a safe community is a thriving community. Deputy Ward's words in this regard are full of positive messages to all those involved in working with communities to make them safer and make sure that they thrive. What will enable this to happen is the provision of resources by the Government and for local government. Communities are the bedrock on which a stable and productive society is based. They are the heartbeat of the State. Investing in communities is not just a practical financial measure by the Government; it is also a psychological measure. It sends a clear message that the Government, the political parties and community representatives believe in the people who live in communities.

I emphasise all of this because before I was lucky enough to get in here, I was a SIPTU official. I represented the community sector. I saw at first hand the complete devastation caused to that sector by Government cutbacks, particularly the first Fine Gael-Labour Government. Those cutbacks have never really been restored. We saw vital community programmes completely destroyed, we saw some of the best people in those communities lose their jobs and the level of community intervention has never recovered from those cutbacks of over ten years ago. I remember campaigning against those cutbacks alongside thousands of other workers. We were never listened to. We have paid the price since then because all of us know – I could not disagree with anything Senators Wilson or Seery Kearney said – there is real and ongoing deprivation across our communities.

When we have a general election campaign - probably later this year - it will be dominated by talk of tax cuts. I wish to put on record that I do not support tax cuts. I do not support any party that will cheer on tax cuts when we have real and increasing deprivation across many of our working-class communities that has never been addressed since the savage cutbacks of ten years ago.

Believing in communities means that the Government has to use all of its State-wide resources to protect the communities from criminality. The Government needs to protect the future by means of its current actions. We cannot allow criminal gangs to continue to be such a scourge on our communities. Older criminals using children for criminal activity in disadvantaged areas is not new. Over the past few years, however, there has been a noticeable increase in this type of activity. Young people are being targeted by older, experienced criminals. Children are being groomed by these unscrupulous criminals. I know from speaking to victims of this crime already that they are terrified. Many of these young people are absolutely terrified because not only are they being threatened by these criminals, the criminals are threatening to attack members of their family - their mothers and sisters. Theirs is a reign of terror. Of course, young people are vulnerable to the superficial trappings offered to them by criminals, such as flashy cars, new runners, quick money in their pockets and the false status of being a so-called somebody by absolute nobodies who take away the goodness in the community and offer nothing but grief and heartache in return.

Criminal gangs have a foothold in our communities, but it would be wrong to say they are running particular areas; they are not. The best people from all backgrounds are the leaders of the communities. They and the Garda know that organised crime is not welcome in our estates, villages and cities. The Garda and communities working together can impact on the presence of criminal gangs. In Limerick, where I live, gardaí are very open with us by saying they are strapped when it comes to resources. They do not have the numbers they had even a few years ago. In the most vulnerable estates, they do not see gardaí often enough. I am not blaming the Garda because it simple does not have the bodies.

I say all this because while we support this Bill, unless we see some kind of in-depth thinking and comprehensive approach, we are only fooling ourselves if we are saying that it will tackle the issue. It will not unless we see that overarching Government approach, which, frankly, we have not seen to date. We believe the Government must give the Garda the tools to be able to tackle organised crime.

It is no coincidence that some of the most disadvantaged communities are those most affected by crime. That disadvantage does not happen by chance rather it is a result of Government policy, cuts to community-based services, which I referenced previously, and eroding community resilience. Is that what the Government wants? Is this a ploy by it to weaken the communities because they are viewed as a political threat to the status quo? We take a different view. We believe strong communities have a vital role to play in helping to build a fair and just society for all. If it gets into government, Sinn Féin will get back to basics. We will invest in community development, build community resilience and strengthen communities.

While Sinn Féin is happy to support the progress of this Bill to the next stage, there are some potential issues we need to examine during the pre-legislative scrutiny process. One has to do with the age of the recruit of the child into criminality. The Bill defines it as age 18 while other jurisdictions set the age at 21. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission expressed concern about this age limit because of the guideline protections of the child justice system.

Another potential issue of concern, which has been referenced already, is family involvement in recruiting a child family member into criminal activity. Despicable though this is, it does happen. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission noted that the complex issues that arise due to family ties are often overlooked in this Bill, for example, involving the child in the prosecution of a family, the use of testimony by the child against the parent or sibling and the feeling of guilt a child might feel if a family member is imprisoned. Children are often recruited through friends and peers.

The length of sentence outlined in the Bill also needs to be debated. Is five years long enough for a hardened criminal who will wilfully use a child for their own benefit? Other areas have sentences of up to ten years. Criminals need to know they will pay a high price for grooming.

There is also the scourge of drug debt intimidation in the communities. Through fear, families are forced to pay this debt. Deputy Ward addressed this intimidation in his Coercion of a Minor (Misuse of Drugs Amendment) Bill 2022. That Bill is designed to deter criminals from using children to sell or supply drugs. Communities have only known one thing, which is the war on drugs. However, this so-called war is not working. The war on drugs is actually a war on working-class communities. It has led to the criminalisation of vast numbers of our young people. As a society we need to move towards a health-led approach rather than a judicial approach. It may reduce the number of young people getting involved in crime.

I started by quoting Deputy Ward. I will finish as I started by repeating his words, namely: “A resourced community is a safe community and a safe community is a thriving community.” Let us see those resources finally go to those communities that so badly deserve them.