Michael Finucane
Question:17 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, she has to require parents of young offenders to accept greater responsibility for their children's activities.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Parental Responsibility for Children's Activities.
Michael Lowry
Question:21 Mr. Lowry asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, she has to require parents of young offenders to accept greater responsibility for their children's activities.
Charles Flanagan
Question:39 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, she has to require parents of young offenders to accept greater responsibility for their children's activities.
John Bruton
Question:48 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, she has to require parents of young offenders to accept greater responsibility for their children's activities.
Enda Kenny
Question:53 Mr. E. Kenny asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, she has to require parents of young offenders to accept greater responsibility for their children's activities.
Phil Hogan
Question:55 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, she has to require parents of young offenders to accept greater responsibility for their children's activities.
It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 17, 21, 39, 48, 53 and 55 together.
As the Deputies will be aware, the Programme for Government provides for the introduction of a modern Juvenile Justice Bill. That Bill, which is being prepared at present, will deal with all aspects of the juvenile justice system, including the question of parental responsibility.
Is the Minister aware that in July 1987, prior to the dissolution of the Dáil, the Select Committee on Crime, Lawlessness and Vandalism considered the question of whether existing legislation should be extended to deal with the question of parental responsibility? In this regard a precedent has been set in the legislation dealing with illegal trading whereby parents can be held responsible for the actions of minors. Would the Minister avail of that legislation to take before the courts parents whose children constantly offend — none of us has children who are saints — to account for their failure to control their children?
The question of the role and responsibilities of parents in this area is being considered actively in the preparation of the Juvenile Justice Bill. The report to which the Deputy has referred has been considered during the course of the examination of documents. While some parents are involved in the activity to which the Deputy referred, it would be unfair to tar all parents with the one brush, as he himself indicated. In some cases it is not a question of poor parents and the parents may not be at fault; they may be just as bewildered as members of the public about the behaviour of their children. In this regard a number of State agencies, including the Departments of Education and Health, need to work together and co-operate to help parents. As I said, the question of the role and responsibilities of parents in this area is being considered.
Would the Minister agree that where it is found that parents are turning their children out on the streets and going to the pub, not taking their responsibilities seriously, allowing minors to be corrupted and to interfere with the rights of others, they should be asked to account for their stewardship? Would she ensure that this view is considered in the course of preparation of the legislation to which she has referred?
That view is being considered.
Is the Minister aware that there are many instances where young juveniles harass elderly people and bully their contemporaries and that no effective remedy is available for the victim of this kind of offence? When they go to the police the police ask what can they do — one cannot put a child into Trinity House. Would the Minister agree that it would be appropriate to summon a parent before a court to inform them of the suffering their child is inflicting on others and to impose an obligation on them, on pain of penalty, to ensure that their child behaves himself?
Such a proposal is being considered in the course of preparation of the Juvenile Justice Bill, but I caution the Deputy that we should not blame all parents for the crimes of their children.
I am not doing that. Therefore, the Minister should not caution me; I do not need to be cautioned.
It is very important to remember that some parents who have problems with their children are just as bewildered as members of the public and, as I said previously at one of the conferences of the Garda Representative Association, this has to be taken into account in the course of preparation of the legislation that I feel we need.
Would the Minister accept that it is not a question of poor parenting alone, that — albeit in a limited number of instances — young people are sent out to commit crimes by their parents precisely because those criminal families believe that those young children stand a better chance of getting off or not being punished? Does the Minister intend to address that problem in the legislation so that those parents will not be in a position to conduct their criminal activities by proxy through their children?
I accept what the Deputy has said and it will be addressed in the Juvenile Justice Bill.