Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 31 Oct 1996

Vol. 470 No. 8

Written Answers. - Youth Schemes Expenditure.

Thomas P. Broughan

Ceist:

117 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Justice the expenditure by her Department on the youth diversion scheme and juvenile liaison officer scheme in each of the years from 1991 to 1996; and the proportion this expenditure formed of the total Justice budget for these years. [20191/96]

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Owen)

The table below gives the direct expenditure on the various youth diversion schemes funded by my Department for the years 1991 to 1996.

Year	Number of Schemes	Expenditure
		£
1991	2	55,000
1992	2	55,000
1993	2	55,000
1994	4	155,000
1995	6	255,000
1996	8	375,000*

* This figure represents the full commitment for 1996.

The probation and welfare service contributes staff resources by way of appointing a representative to the management committee of each of the youth diversion schemes. Other indirect expenditure would include an element of Garda personnel time and other Garda resources which may be expended on particular schemes.

Expenditure for the j3venile liaison officer scheme is given in the following table for the years 1991 to 1996. The costings are based on the average cost of the Garda personnel involved for the years in question.

Year	Total Expenditure
	£
1991	1,614,016
1992	1,876,528
1993	1,961,830
1994	2,078,616
1995	2,243,968
1996	2,380,518*

* This figure is an estimate of the full year cost for 1996.

In addition to the funding provided by my Department for the youth diversion schemes and the juvenile liaison schemes, funding is also provided in respect of a number of projects run by or on behalf of the probation and welfare service. Many of these projects provide training and facilities for young people on probation or at risk of offending. It is not possible to quantify the proportion of expenditure on the youth element of these schemes for the years in question. Likewise, every operational member of the Garda Síochána would work with young people as part of his/her normal policing duties and this element of the work is not separately costed.

The total Justice budget is comprised of five Votes — Justice, Garda, Prisons, Courts and Land Registry. The proportion of expenditure from the total Justice budget for the years 1991 to 1996 on these schemes is set out in the following table.

Year	Total Justice Votes	Proportion of expenditure attributable to J.L.O and Youth Diversion Schemes
	£	%
1991	443,252,000	3.76
1992	479,860,000	4.03
1993	521,485,000	3.86
1994	561,756,000	3.98
1995	589,363,000	4.24
1996	614,108,000	4.30

It would, however, be more appropriate to relate this direct expenditure exclusively to the Garda Vote. The percentage of overall expenditure on the Garda Vote spent on those schemes for the years 1991 to 1996 was 5.3 per cent, 5.7 per cent, 5.3 per cent, 5.7 per cent, 6.1 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively.