Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which her Department expects to examine issues surrounding juvenile offenders with particular reference to identifying the social and/or economic contributory factors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7572/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I would like to inform the Deputy that the Irish Youth Justice Service (IYJS) which is based in my Department and includes officials from the Department of Justice and Equality is currently developing a Youth Justice Action Plan which will sit within the Children and Young People's Policy Framework (CYPPF) 2013-2018 currently being developed in my Department but will also form part of the National Anti-Crime Strategy being developed as part of the draft White Paper on Crime being finalised by my colleague Minister Shatter.

Youth crime will always be a concern but we now know from hard data that the vast majority of young people grow out of crime. In order for the public to have confidence in a youth justice system, it needs to be reasonably assured that it is effective in its policies and delivery.

The focus for the forthcoming Youth Justice Action Plan will be to continue the downward trends in high volume crime and detention; becoming more adept in understanding and intervening in more serious crime offending patterns; and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of these interventions in addressing the behaviour and needs of these children. The Plan involves evidence-informed targeted interventions to achieve better outcomes for children who get into trouble with the law, and to reduce crime leading to safer communities. Importantly, the voice and experiences of children involved in the youth justice system have influenced the development of these interventions.

Of course, the Deputy will be aware that my Department is responsible for a range of supports to families and children which, although not directly related to juvenile offenders, seek to address many of the social and economic contributory factors. I hope to bring a seamless new approach to policy development and integrated service provision for children so that they have the best possible start to life. In order to design and develop effective policies and services that make a difference, then as a first step, we need to better understand our children: their lives, their experiences, their expectations.

My Department's National Strategy for Research and Data on Children’s Lives 2011-2016 sets out a 5 year plan to guide and support the development and use of research and data on children’s lives, for the purpose of improving understandings and creating an evidence base to support policy and practice. Several of the priority areas identified in the strategy relate to the experience of children and young people in contact or in danger of coming in contact with the justice system.

The Deputy will be aware of the commitment given at broader systemic and cultural level through the way we deliver services, in particular through the work of the new Child and Family Support Agency (CFSA) which will be established this year. At the heart of the new Agency will be a new Service Delivery Framework, which will differentiate between child welfare and protection cases, such that family and child welfare concerns can be responded to by new multi-agency, community-based models for early intervention and family support. The new Agency will represent the practical application of a new approach towards 'proportionate' service responses.