Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

156. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to reduce recidivism among young offenders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24601/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am committed to improving outcomes for young people at risk of a life of criminality through investment in youth justice services. The Programme for Government and the current Youth Justice Strategy both include actions to address recidivism amongst young offenders.

Ireland’s youth justice system prioritises early intervention, diversion, detention as a last resort and addressing root causes of offending behaviour. Key elements include the Garda Youth Diversion Programme, and services provided by the Probation Service and Oberstown Children Detention Campus.

The Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 is a whole of government approach to children and young people at risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system.

It commits to extending the remit of the Youth Diversion Project (YDP) network to provide dedicated family support, early intervention, and Harder-to-Reach programmes throughout the State.

Our YDPs are community-based, multi-agency crime prevention initiatives that seek to divert young people who have become involved in crime/anti-social behaviour and to support wider preventative work within the community and with families.

On average the YDPs engage with between 3,500 and 4,000 young people across the State in any one year.

YDPs are primarily targeted at 12-17 year old “at risk” youths in communities where a specific need has been identified and where there is a risk of them remaining within the justice system.

Funding for YDPs and other Youth Justice measures has increased substantially in recent years, from €18 million in 2020 to a total allocation of just over €36 million in Budget 2025.

This will facilitate an increase in the availability of YDP services in the evenings and at the weekends when many young people need them the most, as well as an increase in supports for families, interventions for typically hard-to-reach young people, and early interventions for 8-11-year-olds who may be at increased risk of becoming engaged in criminal activity.

The current network of 93 YDPs is extensive, and considerable progress has been made to extend the YDP network throughout the State. In February, I announced two new Youth Diversion Projects (YDPs) in East Clare and North Tipperary, meeting the target as set out in the Youth Justice Strategy of full national coverage of YDPs, ensuring that a service is available to every young person who needs it.

An evaluation of the YDPs was commissioned in 2022 and published in June 2023 concluding that YDPs are performing well in many areas that are known to impact positively on reducing crime and reoffending.

My Department also funds the Bail Supervision Scheme (BSS) which offers courts an alternative option to detaining a young person who comes before them by providing them the possibility of granting bail with intensive supervision. Currently, the programme covers the greater Dublin area, Cork and Limerick and is operated by Extern Ireland. €2,120,000 was allocated to the BSS for 2024. An evaluation of BSS, published in 2019 found a 72% reduction in offending rates, almost double that of the control group.

Further to this, the Probation Service Young Person Probation (YPP) is an operational region of the Probation Service that assesses and supervises approximately 700 children each year.

YPP Probation Officers work with children in the community, in detention and post-detention. Section 99 of the Children Act 2001 mandates the Court to have before it, a pre-sanction report in advance of imposing a community sanction, probation supervision or a detention sanction in respect of a young person. These reports are informed by a risk assessment which identifies areas relevant to the individual's risk of reoffending and set out targets for intervention to address identified risks.

In the case of prolific child offenders, a multi-agency approach, the Youth–Joint Agency Response to Crime (Y-JARC), has been effective. The YJARC response focuses on the volume of crime, desistance, as well as the child’s needs.

There are currently three operational YJARC Projects, two of which were launched in 2017 that provide a co-ordinated and enhanced operational approach to manage prolific young offenders and thereby contribute to community safety. An Garda Síochána, the Probation Service, Irish Prison Service, Oberstown Children Detention Campus and Tusla are key stakeholders in YJARC.

A fourth YJARC project has recently been established in Dublin North Inner City to provide a coordinated response to youth offending in this geographical area.