Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 132: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his Department has carried out research to establish if there is a link between educational disadvantage and juvenile delinquency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9092/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Diversion of young people from crime and the criminal justice system is one of the responsibilities of my Department in accordance with the provisions of the Children Act 2001, as amended. The causes of delinquent, anti-social, and criminal behaviour are often complex and may cover a range of issues which are dealt with by a number of Government Departments. While my Department has not carried out specific research in the area referred to, I can say that a quantity of research exists which identifies educational disadvantage, along with other factors including poverty, unemployment, early school leaving, addiction and inadequate parenting, as contributing to juvenile delinquency. It is generally accepted that all these factors can contribute to young people becoming involved in anti-social behaviour and delinquency.

The Government has invested heavily in tackling educational and social disadvantage over many years and across a range of Government Departments and Agencies. In my own Department, for example, the Government agreed a comprehensive programme to implement youth justice reforms including the establishment of the Irish Youth Justice Service (IYJS). As well as providing strategic leadership, the IYJS works on a partnership basis with Government Departments and Agencies to reduce youth offending. It funds organisations providing services (including Garda and Probation Service projects) to young people who find themselves in conflict with the law. Its main responsibilities include a remit to develop a unified youth justice policy and to devise a national strategy to deliver this policy and service. In developing its national youth justice strategy, which will cover the period 2008-2010, the issue of educational disadvantage and juvenile delinquency is one of those identified. The strategy will set out the role which various Government Departments and State Agencies will play in reducing youth offending.

The strategy will be published shortly by my colleague, the Minister for Children. In rolling out the strategy, the objective of the IYJS and relevant Departments and Agencies will be to make existing intervention measures more effective and develop new policies and programmes as appropriate, with the aim of reducing youth offending and diverting young people from such behaviour. The primary goal will be to keep children who offend out of detention by using alternatives to prosecution including referral, where appropriate, to Garda Youth Diversion projects, the Garda Juvenile Diversion programme, community sanctions and restorative justice.