Eoin Ó Broin
Ceist:474. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the initiatives planned to address juvenile crime; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3263/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 15 January 2026
Ceisteanna (474)
Freagraí scríofa
The Government’s focus on youth diversion and interventions is a keystone in the Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027. The strategy emphasises early intervention, prevention, family support, and community engagement. It is aimed at promoting positive behavioural change and targeting this behaviour so that we can break the cycle of offending by young people.
Since the enactment of the Children Act 2001, Ireland’s approach has been to divert children from the criminal justice system with detention of children considered only as a last resort. An essential pillar of this child-focused approach is the Garda Youth Diversion Programme.
Under this Programme, any child between the ages of 12 and 17 who commits a criminal offence is entitled to be considered for admission to a local Youth Diversion Programme (YDP). Assessment of each case is done by the Director of the Garda Diversion Programme (Garda Superintendent).
The operation of this programme includes informal and formal Garda warnings, delivered in the presence of parents or guardians, as well as provision for supervision by a Garda Juvenile Liaison Officer.
YDPs are community-based and multi-agency youth crime prevention initiatives. There are currently 94 YDPs in operation across the State, with nationwide coverage of the service having recently been achieved through the establishment of two final projects in North Tipperary and East Clare last year.
The programmes offered by YDPs provide participants with suitable activities to facilitate their personal development, promote civic responsibility, encourage pro-social behaviour in their communities and improve their educational outcomes and long-term employability prospects.
These opportunities are intended to allow young people to reflect on and challenge their past behaviour, enhance their capacity to regulate their emotions and resolve conflict and develop positive and appropriate relationships with their peers. Restorative justice and motivational interviewing techniques are embedded in the work of YDPs.
Since the launch of the Youth Justice Strategy 2021 - 2027, considerable progress has been made to enhance the YDP network’s capacity to engage those who are most at risk of involvement in criminal activity, as well as address the underlying factors that cause this involvement.
This has been achieved by extending existing project catchment areas and developing specialised Early Intervention, Family Support and Harder-to-Reach programmes which seek to target the following groups:
• Immediate family members of participants who are contributing to children and young people’s offending behaviour.
• Children aged between 8 and 11 years who are at risk of coming to the attention of law enforcement once they reach the age of criminal responsibility; and
• Prolific young offenders who present to YDPs and youth-related services with complex needs and are more likely to come before the Courts or enter detention.
A significant allocation of €7.3 million in additional core exchequer funding for Youth Justice measures was announced as part of Budget 2026. This will facilitate the continued implementation of evidence-based, wraparound approaches to Youth Justice policy, practice and research in Ireland.
While the vast majority of children are deemed to be suitable for diversion by the Garda National Youth Diversion Bureau, there is a population of young offenders engaged in serious and prolific offending who require more targeted interventions and therefore may be deemed unsuitable for diversion from the Criminal Justice system.
The Department, in collaboration with the Probation Service, operates a number of initiatives distinctly designed to address serious and prolific youth offending, these are: the Greentown Programme, the Youth Justice Agency Response to Crime (YJARC), and targeted interventions for children who are harder to reach in terms of addressing prolific and serious offending.
In addition, from 1 January this year, management of the Bail Supervision Scheme (BSS) transferred from my Department to the Probation Service. BSS offers courts an alternative option to detaining a young person who comes before them by offering them the possibility of granting bail with intensive supervision.
The BSS scheme currently serves the Children Courts in Dublin, Limerick and Cork. The scheme uses Multisystemic Therapy (MST) to support families of young people to stick to their conditions prior to subsequent court appearances.