Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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79. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of full-time staff in the Garda youth diversion programme in each of the years 2010 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37956/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of personnel and I, as Minister, have no direct role in the matter. Garda management keeps this distribution under review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities to ensure optimum use is made of the resources.

The Garda Youth Diversion Office which forms part of the Garda Bureau of Community Engagement, is the national office for the management and implementation of the Garda Diversion Programme. The Diversion Programme provides that in certain circumstances a young person under 18 years of age who freely accepts responsibility for a criminal incident can be cautioned and supervised as an alternative to prosecution as provided in Part 4 of the Children Act 2001. I am advised by the Commissioner that Garda Juvenile Liaison Officers (JLOs) are specially trained to fulfil a key role in implementing the Garda Diversion Programme. Their role includes the administration of formal and informal cautions as well as appropriate supervision of children who have been admitted to the Diversion Programme.

For the Deputy's information I have set out in the spreadsheet, as supplied by the Commissioner, the staffing complement of the Garda Youth Diversion Office and the number of JLOs, in each of the years 2010-2018, the latest date for which figures are currently available.

Garda Youth Diversion Office 2010 – 2018*

Juvenile Liaison Officers 2010-2018*