Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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623. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the funding provided under the Garda youth diversion scheme in the past two years; the amount provided to each project during the period; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28867/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I am very conscious of how the impact of anti-social behaviour affects the quality of life for local communities. Preventing children getting involved in criminality and diverting children away from it when they have already become involved is a key priority for me as Minister for Justice and the Programme for Government contains a number of commitments with regard to tackling anti-social behaviour.

I am informed that currently there are 105 Garda Youth Diversion Projects. The intention is to further develop this service so that it is available to every child in the State who could benefit from it, through an ongoing expansion of existing services and the foundation of new projects where necessary.

I am further informed that the projects are being developed to provide family support to the parents of young people participating in the projects, and are undertaking early intervention and preventative work. The role of the projects in relation to harder-to-engage young people is being enhanced and extended as part of the evolving Youth Justice system.

The Department is supporting the ongoing development of practice in Garda Youth Diversion Projects through the Action Research Project led by the University of Limerick. The Action Research Project works directly with front-line Youth Justice Workers from local projects to develop interventions and best practice. Based on initial outcomes from the Action Research Project, and evaluations of a number of pilot projects, it is intended to develop proposals to expand the existing services. This would ensure national coverage and a stronger focus on difficult issues such as the hard-to-reach cohort.

These issues are addressed in the draft Youth Justice Strategy 2020-2026, which is due to be published in Q4 2020.

Details of the funding allocations sought for the Garda Youth Diversion Projects are set out in the following table.