Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 October 2006
288 Mr. J. O’Keeffe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his view on whether there is need for the appointment of additional juvenile liaison officers in An Garda Síochána; when the review in this regard was completed; the number of additional JLO’s recommended in this review; and when will they be appointed. [34673/06]
View answerI have been informed by the Garda authorities, who are responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, that at present, there are 87 Garda Juvenile Liaison Officers and 8 Juvenile Liaison Officer Sergeants working in various Divisions throughout the country. In addition, the National Juvenile Office has a staff of 1 Superintendent, (the Director of Diversion Programme), 1 Inspector and 2 Sergeants.
JLOs are responsible for implementing the Garda Juvenile Diversion Programme, which provides an opportunity to divert juvenile offenders from criminal activity. It operates on a nationwide basis under the supervision and direction of the Garda National Juvenile Office, Harcourt Square, Dublin 2. The Programme provides that, in certain circumstances, a juvenile under 18 years of age, who freely accepts responsibility for a criminal incident, may be cautioned as an alternative to prosecution.
In addition, there are also 64 Garda Youth Diversion Projects nationwide. These projects aim to bring about the conditions whereby the behavioural patterns of young people towards law and order can develop and mature. These projects cater for approximately 2,500 participants per annum and are particularly targeted at 10-18 year old "at risk" youths in communities where a specific need has been identified. The allocation of funding for the 64 Garda Youth Diversion Projects (along with 7 Local Drug Task Force Projects) in 2006 is just over €6.6 million, which is an increase of €1.2 million on 2005.
As I explained in my reply to Questions Number 179 and 187 of 3 October 2006, it is my intention to ensure that 100 schemes will be established nationwide before the end of 2007. Recently, I announced the establishment of ten new projects in the first phase of the expansion of the scheme, bringing the total number of projects to 74. The ten new projects are located in Blanchardstown, Birr, Carlow, Castlebar, Cavan, Clondalkin, Limerick, Tallaght and Tralee (two projects). The appointment of additional Juvenile Liaison Officers for these projects is under consideration.
I should add that the current recruitment drive to increase the strength of the Garda Síochána to 14,000 members, in line with the commitment in the Agreed Programme for Government, is fully on target. This will lead to a combined strength, of both attested Gardaí and recruits in training, of 14,000 by the end of this year. The first three groups of newly attested Gardaí under this accelerated recruitment programme came on stream in March, June and September of this year and the fourth such group will become fully attested members of the Force later this year. Further tranches of approximately 275 newly attested Gardaí will follow every 90 days thereafter until the programme is complete. The Garda Commissioner will now be drawing up plans on how best to distribute and manage these additional resources, and in this context the needs of the Garda Juvenile Diversion Programme will be given the fullest consideration.
