Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 21 Oct 2003

Vol. 572 No. 6

Written Answers. - Juvenile Offenders.

David Stanton

Ceist:

352 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of juvenile liaison officers working in each Garda division respectively; the average number of cases worked on by each in 2002; his plans to reorganise or upgrade the service; the cost of the service in 2000, 2001 and 2002; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24115/03]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

I have been informed by the Garda authorities, which are responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, that there are a total of 85 JLO gardaí and eight JLO sergeants working in various divisions throughout the country as set out in the following table:

Division		Number ofJLOs
	Sergeants	Garda
South Central	1	4
Dublin South	1	7
Dublin West	1	7
North Central	1	3
Dublin East	1	6
Dublin North	1	9
Louth-Meath	0	5
Longford-Westmeath	0	3
Laois-Offaly	0	2
Carlow-Kildare	0	3
Wexford	0	3
Waterford-Kilkenny	0	5
Tipperary	0	2
Cork City	1	6
Cork West	0	2
Cork North	0	2
Kerry	0	2
Limerick	1	1
Clare	0	1
Galway	0	2
Roscommon-Galway	0	2
Mayo	0	2
Sligo	0	1
Donegal	0	3
Cavan-Monaghan	0	2
Total	8	85

In addition, the national juvenile office has a staff of one superintendent, two inspectors, two sergeants and four civilians. The total number of referrals to the national juvenile office in 2002, was 20,644. This results in an average case load of 243 for each Garda JLO.

Part 4 of the Children Act 2001 came into law in May 2002. This effectively placed the Garda juvenile diversion programme on a statutory basis for the first time in its 40 year history and has resulted in the introduction of a number of substantial changes in the manner in which the Garda deals with juvenile offenders. The concept of restorative justice and family conferences as envisaged under sections 26 and 29 of the Act will continue to be rolled out. To date, almost 100 such events have taken place and each one has been evaluated. This all forms part of an ongoing development of the juvenile diversion programme.

In compliance with the provisions of section 44 of the Act, a committee has been established to monitor the effectiveness of the programme, review all aspects of its operation and monitor the ongoing training needs of facilitators. The approximate cost of the provision of this service in 2000, 2001 and 2002 is as follows: 2000, €2.96 million; 2001, €3.17 million; and 2002, €3.29 million.