Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 11 Jun 1992

Vol. 421 No. 2

Written Answers. - Juvenile Liaison Service.

Máirín Quill

Ceist:

83 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Justice if, in view of the sharp increase in the number of crimes committed by juveniles in recent years, he intends to recommend an increase in personnel and resources for the juvenile liaison service.

Minister for Justice (Mr. Flynn)

It is a matter for the Garda Commissioner to decide on the number of members assigned to juvenile liaison officer duties. At present there are 82 juvenile liaison officers in the Garda Síochána who are assigned to 34 major centres of population including Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny, Waterford and other provincial areas. I am informed by the Garda authorities that the number of juvenile liaison officers is sufficient to meet the demands placed on them.

Last year saw the implementation of the first reforms of the Garda juvenile liaison officer scheme since its inception in 1963. There is now a National Juvenile Office at Garda DMA Headquarters, Harcourt Square which co-ordinates and monitors the operation of the scheme throughout the country. Other new developments to make the scheme more effective in helping young people who become involved in crime include: a new and greater emphasis on the use of a caution rather than prosecution of young offenders, tailoring of Garda supervision to meet the individual needs of each juvenile, improved and extended training of juvenile liaison officers and rostering of juvenile liaison officers for night and weekend working to ensure better contact with parents and young people involved in the scheme.

I believe these new measures will greatly enhance the operation of the juvenile liaison officer scheme.