Written answers

Tuesday, 29 June 2021

Department of Justice and Equality

Departmental Programmes

Photo of Cormac DevlinCormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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415. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the history and activity of the trial programme Protecting Young People from the Influence of Adult Crime Networks in Ireland; the contact details for the section dealing with same within her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34436/21]

Photo of James BrowneJames Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, I recently published the new Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027. This strategy includes a commitment to develop the work of the Garda Youth Diversion Projects (GYDPs) to include targeted work with 'harder-to-reach' young people. This includes young people heavily involved in crime and anti-social behaviour, for whom there are little supports and interventions available in practice, unless they are before the courts, in which case they may be under the supervision of the Probation Service. The strategy also prioritises early intervention work, including with younger children who are assessed as being at serious risk. Both of these cohorts may include children at risk of recruitment by crime gangs.

The development of this work within the GYDP network will be supported by the Research Evidence into Policy, Programmes and Practice (REPPP) project at the School of Law in the University of Limerick (UL). The REPPP project has led on the production of the “Greentown Report”, which studied the influence of criminal networks on children in Ireland, and was published in December 2016. The REPPP project is a strategic research partnership between UL and the Department of Justice.

The Greentown Report identifies crime networks as a separate and plausible risk factor underlying criminal offending by certain children. It outlines how the influence of criminal networks increases the level of offending by a small number of children and entraps them in offending situations.

The Greentown Report recommended the design of a programme to include interventions with children and their families to help them withstand the influence of criminal networks. The REPPP project team implemented a bespoke process to produce a model for an Irish evidence-informed intervention programme. This new “Greentown Programme” has been designed with the input of leading international expertise on crime and criminal networks, together with Irish scientific, policy and practice expertise in child protection and welfare, drugs and community development. The programme is managed jointly between my Department, An Garda Síochána and the University of Limerick.

Pilot applications of the Greentown programme, developed by the REPPP project, commenced in two locations in 2020 and will run for three years. The learning from these pilots will then be incorporated into mainstream GYDP practice. This specially designed intervention programme was developed with international expert advice, to tackle coercive control of children by criminal groups which entraps them in offending situations. Funds are already available for the initial pilots from the Dormant Accounts Funds, with a total of €4.2m allocated over three years.

The implementation of the Greentown pilot programme is part of the strategic objectives of the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027. This implementation process began with the establishment of the Governance and Strategy Group, and the Youth Justice Oversight Group. Both groups are chaired by the Department of Justice, which will provide oversight arrangements for youth justice Initiatives, including the Greentown pilots, to ensure that there is a cohesive response in practice to the needs of particular cohorts of children and particular communities.

With regard to the contact details requested by the Deputy, I will write to him separately with these, and I will be happy to arrange a discussion with my officials for the Deputy if he wishes.

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