Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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75. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her attention has been drawn to the juvenile drug treatment court guidelines issued to juvenile drug treatment courts in Australia, which are designed for young persons with substance use disorders; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23964/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that my Department's attention has not been drawn to the juvenile drug treatment court guidelines issued to juvenile drug treatment courts in Australia. As the Deputy may be aware, juveniles are not accepted in the Drug Treatment Court in Dublin and such persons charged with drug related offences are dealt with through the Children Court. The Deputy may be interested in the legal framework applicable to young offenders and the activities and services funded by my Department which support the operation of the law in this area. Statutory provision in relation to young offenders is set out in the Children Act 2001 (as amended). Accordingly, where a young person under the age of 18 comes into conflict with the law, the principles of the Act apply. A key principle in the Act is that detention should be a last resort. In support of this principle, the legislation facilitates the incremental application of a series of measures, ranging from diversion in the first instance through community based sanctions, to detention.

The first main filter in the youth justice system is the Diversion Programme operated by An Garda Síochána, involving at different stages and depending on the seriousness of the offence, the informal caution (without supervision) and the formal caution (with supervision), including possible involvement with a Garda Youth Diversion Project. The second main filter is the range of non-custodial sanctions available to the courts including court orders for dismissal; conditional discharge; the payment of fines, costs or compensation; the binding over of parents; and orders imposing community sanctions supervised by the Probation Service. In supervising community sanctions, the Probation Service utilises a number of community based organisations with dedicated resources to work with young offenders.

Finally and as a last resort, detention in the Oberstown Children Detention Campus may be used. In this regard, I should mention that my colleague the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr. Katherine Zappone recently announced the roll-out of a pilot Bail Supervision Scheme for young people which will assist them in complying with their bail conditions pending the hearing of their case. International evidence suggests that this scheme should impact remand trends by offering the court a new option ‘bail with supervision’ as an alternative to a remand in detention. This alternative option should also help a young person to moderate their chaotic circumstances and promote greater stability in their life.

It will be seen, therefore, that the focus under the law is to adopt a graduated approach which, in the main, serves to keep the vast majority of young offenders out of the criminal justice system.