Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State. I have worked as a professional youth worker for the past 25 years. This is an area close to my heart. As Senator Kelleher said, mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí. These are children we are talking about. I do not think anyone wakes up in the morning and says, "Do you know what, I am going to get involved in crime." If we review the statistics of young people who are involved in crime or heading into crime, the majority have lived with some level of disadvantage. They have lived through years of poverty and neglect. Often they have had early childhood experiences resulting in needs that have been unmet. I commend youth workers, and not just the youth diversion programmes but the general job of youth workers, where they have worked for years underpaid and often in very difficult situations. It baffles me that youth services always have to fight for resources. This is an opportunity to see that we are moving away from a more punitive style of justice. It is great to see that this diversion programme is happening but it cannot be taken in isolation. None of the young people with whom I have had the experience of working want to go down the route of a life of crime. They can see this if they were properly supported, with family support and community support. The education system is not suitable to their needs. Young people I have worked with through the years are starting to feel really supported in some ways, which could be through school completion projects or the home-school liaison project, which I was involved with for years. Then they turn 18 years of age and all of a sudden all those supports are taken away from them. I agree with Senator Andrews' comments that a lot of youth services are restricted to working with young people from ten years up to 18. Organisations such as Foróige or Youth Work Ireland are moving towards working with young people up to the age of 24 but often those early years are missed.

We cannot address the area of youth crime in isolation. We must have a full combat poverty strategy. There was a fantastic combat poverty strategy at one stage where the needs of young people were truly met. Young people and children have needs just like we do, including personal development needs. If these needs are not being met, it is very difficult to continue on your life and particularly with education, early years and dealing with years of addiction maybe through their own family members who have been left neglected in their own communities. There is also the addiction that young people are falling into themselves without the proper supports.

I have met with the National Youth Council of Ireland, NYCI, and it has raised some really constructive measures. It is not just diversion programmes and Department of Justice funding. Some of these services are under Tusla or the Departments of education and children. The education and training boards fund many of these UBU targeted youth projects as well. The NYCI has asked for multi-annual funding. It cannot programme plan because it is only getting funding on a yearly basis.

Youth workers and social care workers are not being attracted into the sector because of the low pay and because they do not have consistent long-term contracts. There are no pensions, which is a very big issue for youth workers. When the Government is looking at this diversion programme, I urge the Minister of State to listen to the voices of people such as those in the National Youth Council of Ireland. The Irish Traveller Movement brought out a survey that reported there were no targeted youth projects for young Travellers in most counties, who are one of the most marginalised groups within our society.

This debate is very important but it has to be listened to. If we are going to be really serious about diverting young people away from crime, we need to listen to youth services and properly fund youth and community services.