Council told that diverting youth away from crime is Government priority

Curbing anti-social behaviour and the diversion of young people away from criminality is a top priority for the Government, Meath County Council has been told.

The Minister for Justice Heather Humphreys was replying to a motion on this type of behaviour proposed by Fianna Fail Cllr Paul McCabe and passed by the council members last November. Cllr McCabe had called for a more visible Garda presence on the streets and the establishment of a special forum to consider the effectiveness of existing laws to counteract anti-social behaviour.

The Minister told the Council that preventing children getting involved in and diverting them away from criminality was a key priority for her and the Programme for Government, members were told.

That programme contained a number of commitments for tackling anti-social behaviour. One of those commitments was to set up a special expert forum on the issue, to consider effectiveness of existing legislation and to propose new ways forward.

The Minister said that new laws implementing the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland would, among other elements, redefine policing to include prevention of harm to vulnerable persons.

She said this approach would mandate multi-agency collaboration, along with impacted communities, to address in a holistic way the range of social problems, including those exploited by criminals to involve young people.

“The Joint Agency Response to Crime has had success managing prolific offenders and the Programme for Government includes a commitment to extend the pilot scheme of the programme to more areas to target prolific repeat and vulnerable offenders aged 16-21”, Ms Humphreys said.

The Garda Youth Diversion Programme and over 100 Garda Youth Diversion Projects operated nationwide. A total of €15.6 million had been committed for this purpose in 2020, she said.