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Departmental Strategies

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 October 2021

Thursday, 21 October 2021

Questions (151)

Colm Burke

Question:

151. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Justice the way it is envisaged the extra €6.7 million for the youth justice strategy will be invested; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51545/21]

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Written answers

As the Deputy may be aware, the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 was launched earlier this year.  The immediate priority within the new Strategy is to enhance engagement with children and young people who are most at risk of involvement in criminal activity, principally by strengthening the services available through the existing network of 105 Youth Diversion Projects (YDPs) across the State.

YDPs engage with young people through a range of supports, including education, training and  employment support, social enterprise initiatives, as well as personal development and supports such as mentoring and personal development activities. Experience in the operation of the Children Act highlights the need to include children below the age of criminal responsibility (12 for  most offences) in preventative measures, and to consider the extension of measures to divert young offenders away from the criminal justice system beyond the age of 18.

The additional €6.7m provided for in Budget 2022 represents an increase of one third in support for youth justice services. It provides the resources to kick-start delivery of key objectives in the Youth Justice Strategy and, in particular, the programme to expand and deepen the range of supports made available through local YDP services. The main elements are:

- Establishment of a limited number of new youth projects and boundary extensions of existing projects so as to ensure that the youth diversion services are available throughout the State by end-2022 or shortly thereafter.

- Enhancement of the youth diversion service, in accordance with identified local needs, to include:

- Early intervention and family support work

- Outreach with harder-to-engage young people

- Support for schools to retain challenging children

- Other specific initiatives e.g. in relation to anti-social use of scramblers and knife crime issues.

- Dedicated research and expert support, including best practice support for the nationwide project network, facilitated by the Research Evidence into Policy Programmes and Practice (REPPP) project team in the University of Limerick.

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