Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the way that the new policy approach for areas of severe disadvantage, which are suffering the ravages of drug dealing, has been progressing to date; the indicators that are being used to establish the success of the approach; if there are any early findings; and the further initiatives that are planned in her Department or across Government to tackle some of the deep-seated challenges. [16084/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I want to assure the Deputy that the Government is determined to tackle criminal behaviour and I am very conscious of the repercussions that such behaviour can have on the quality of life for residents in local communities. It is important that people feel safe and are safe in their communities.

My Department are taking a range of actions designed to break the link between criminal gangs and the children they seek to recruit. This includes the enactment of new criminal legislation which will outlaw the grooming of children to commit crime. I also intend to bring forward legislation shortly which will increase the sentence of conspiracy to murder from ten years to life in prison. These new laws will ensure that An Garda Síochána and our Courts have the tools they need to take firm and decisive action to deal with our most serious criminals.

While there are a number of policy approaches ongoing with regard to the issues raised by the Deputy, I am aware of the Deputy's particular interest in the Greentown Programme which is an important development in the Government’s Youth Justice Strategy. This internationally recognised initiative is supported by my Department and led by the REPPP Project (Research Evidence into Policy, Programmes and Practice) at the School of Law in the University of Limerick. The REPPP project is a strategic research partnership between UL and my Department. The REPPP originally produced the “Greentown Report”, which studied the influence of criminal networks on children in Ireland, and was published in December 2016.

The 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 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 design 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.

Pilot applications of the Programme, developed by the REPPP, commenced in two locations in 2020 and will run for three years. The learning from these pilots will then be incorporated into mainstream Youth Diversion Project (YDP) 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 Programme is one of a number of policy approaches currently being undertaken to address the issues raised by the Deputy. Other initiatives include the Local Community Safety Partnerships, the Youth Justice Strategy, the Drogheda Implementation Plan and the socio-economic and community plan for Darndale and the surrounding areas in Dublin 17, which my Department is committed to supporting. While each of these initiatives is tailored to the specific challenges which they are designed to address, each is in line with the principles of my Department's Community Safety policy and rooted in a similar philosophy - that tackling community safety concerns requires a holistic, whole of society approach.