Question:
2 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the additional measures, if any, he will take to tackle juvenile crime. [6855/98]
Priority Questions. - Juvenile Crime.
A key priority in the Government's Action Programme for the New Millennium is the enactment of comprehensive juvenile justice legislation, and to that end the Government approved the restoration of the Children Bill, 1996, to the Dáil Order Paper at Committee Stage. At present, the Bill is being examined with a view to bringing forward Committee Stage amendments. The Bill will totally repeal the Children Act, 1908, and replace it with a modern statute. The main aim of the Bill is to provide an up-to-date legislative framework within which a new juvenile justice system can be formulated.
The juvenile justice aspects of the Bill span arrangements for dealing with children from the point where they are detected committing offences to their release from detention and beyond. The primary objectives of the juvenile justice aspects of the legislation are (1) to divert first time and non-serious child offenders, where feasible, from the criminal justice system; (2) to deal with children whose offences are of such a serious nature, or are of such persistence, that they have to be brought before a court, through the imposition by the court of community sanctions; and (3) to work for the reintegration of child offenders back into the community in every case where a court considers it has no option but to order the detention of such a child.
Those objectives are in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN standard minimum rules for the administration of juvenile justice, "the Beijing rules", the UN guidelines for the prevention of juvenile delinquency, "the Riyadh guidelines", as well as the UN rules for the protection of juveniles deprived of their liberty, "Havana rules". It would be wrong to view the Bill in isolation from crime preventive measures provided for in the Child Care Act, 1991, and in the plans for legislation of the Department of Education and Science aimed at tackling the problem of truancy.
Juvenile offenders who meet certain conditions may also be dealt with under the Garda juvenile diversion programme as an alternative to prosecution. The programme commenced in 1963 and, following a review by a working party, a number of procedural changes were introduced in 1991 and the National Juvenile Office was established. The primary aim of the programme is crime prevention.
The Children Bill, 1996, proposes placing the Garda juvenile diversion programme on a statutory footing. The Bill also includes provision for holding family conferences as part of the programme to be held in a Garda station convenient to the persons attending or in the offender's home or, in exceptional circumstances, in some other place. My Department is currently funding 13 community-based youth diversion projects located in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Dundalk. Proposals for a further three projects, two in Dublin and one in Tralee, are currently under consideration. A lengthy reply is available to Deputy Upton's excellent question but I can see he is becoming impatient to ask some specific questions. In deference to requests that the replies be kept short, I will yield to Deputy Upton's questions.
Dr. Upton
I thank the Minister for allowing me to intervene at this stage. Is an assessment being carried out on the various measures to divert young people from crime which the Minister is considering? Would he agree with me that it is possible to identify, with a good degree of certainty, children at birth, and certainly by the age of 8 years, who will become involved in a life of crime? Will the Minister consider taking special measures directed at that cohort of children in order to divert them from what seems, in many cases, to be their inevitable fate?
Unfortunately, it is true that there are certain situations in which it is likely that young people will embark upon a life of crime. I assure the Deputy that the Government is taking action on a broad range of fronts to advance social inclusion. The Cabinet sub-committee dealing with this matter is addressing a range of issues which deal with poverty and social exclusion and a number of strategic areas are being targeted.
I take it that Deputy Upton is referring to the whole question of poverty and local development in places where drug abuse is rampant and there is a need for pilot programmes for children at risk. Such programmes are being advanced. In addition, the Probation and Welfare Service of my Department runs a number of community-based projects which cater for young offenders at risk of continuing in crime. The Department is also funding the Copping On crime awareness programme which is delivered through Youthreach.
Dr. Upton
Does the Minister agree that a number of these children present a special problem for their parents who are unable to cope with them? Would the Minister be prepared to introduce some special support measures for parents unable to cope with children who are out of control? Would he consider introducing control measures to deal with parents who, in effect, renege on their responsibilities to look after their children properly?
The Deputy is again referring to the whole question of social exclusion and the desirability of social inclusion. I have indicated to him the steps which the Government is currently taking to address that problem. The Government is very conscious of the need to ensure maximum co-ordination of services at community level. For this reason, new procedures to achieve this objective are being developed by the Minister of State, Deputy Flood, in the context of four pilot areas selected by the Interdepartmental Policy Committee on Local Development.
Clearly, the whole issue of social inclusion would, of necessity, have to address parents, poverty, availability of drugs and so on. The Government is very concerned about the matters to which the Deputy has referred and is, through a variety of programmes, seeking to address them. In January, the Taoiseach announced a programme for young people at risk, the centrepiece of which was the availability of £30 million in funding which is to be provided over the next three years. The funding will support a variety of capital and non-capital projects in disadvantaged areas.
Dr. Upton
Will the Minister consider introducing a pilot project in conjunction with other Departments and agencies specially designed to assist parents who freely acknowledge that their children are out of control and they are unable to cope with them? A number of recent newspaper articles have been published on the problems encountered by people in such circumstances.
There are a number of youth diversion projects already in operation. There are 13 projects in all, six of which are based in Dublin in Ronanstown, Killinarden, Tallaght, Blanchardstown, Cherry Orchard, Priorswood, Darndale and the north inner city. Three projects are based in Cork in Knocknaheeny, Mahon and the Glen and two are based in Limerick at Moyross and Southill. One project is based in Ballybeg in Waterford. The total cost of these projects to date is in the region of £700,000. Those projects are already in operation and the Department is currently considering proposals for projects in the south inner city, Finglas and Hardwicke Street and in Tralee. I hope to be in a position to make a decision on these projects shortly.
We must now proceed to Question No. 4. As the time for priority questions has expired, we cannot take Question No. 3. Question No. 4 will be taken in ordinary time.
I would be quite happy to take Question No. 3.
The Chair does not have authority to amend the rules of the House.
(Mayo): On a point of information, Question No. 3 was also submitted as an ordinary question.
I merely wished to make it clear that I am not in any way attempting to avoid Deputy Higgins's question.
Twenty minutes are allocated for priority questions and if they are not concluded within that time, the rules allow for the transferral of questions Nos. 4 and 5 into ordinary time. However, there is no facility to transfer Question No. 3 if it is not dealt with.