An Cathaoirleach: I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy Niall Collins, to Seanad Éireann. The debate will follow the normal procedure, with the Minister and group spokespersons speaking for ten minutes and all other Senators for five minutes.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice (Deputy Niall Collins): I welcome the opportunity to discuss efforts to divert our young people from crime. At the core of our diversion efforts is the fact that all young people deserve the opportunity to improve their quality of life. We believe they deserve to have choices and be enabled to make better life decisions for themselves. Directly intervening to support our young people, especially those who are most at risk, is vital to build stronger and safer communities. As Minister of State, I am glad to have the opportunity to invest in and further develop our youth justice services. The work I have engaged with since being appointed has filled me with hope and optimism. Our approach to youth justice in Ireland, informed by international standards, is that children in conflict with the law are still children. They are entitled to dignity, respect and access to services that will promote their healthy engagement with their communities and wider society. Youth justice interventions are not about young people avoiding punishment or consequences but about recognising that many young people who stray from the proper path simply need support and direction to get their lives back on track. This is why preventing offending behaviour and diverting children and young people from further involvement in the criminal justice system are at the heart of what we do.

The youth justice strategy is a forward-thinking plan designed to address the unique challenges faced by young people in Ireland. It is a commitment to the young people of Ireland and a promise to create a brighter, more equitable future for all. At its core it emphasises early intervention, prevention, family support and community engagement.

The strategy is not just a plan on paper, it has tangible actions and objectives aimed at promoting positive behavioural change. It is our strategy to directly target problem behaviours to help us break the cycle of young people reoffending.

We are continuing to implement and evaluate our youth justice strategy, which is now reaching its midway point. We have made a commitment in the programme for Government to develop a successor at the end of the current strategy's lifespan. The first principle underpinning the Children Act is that children should be diverted away from the criminal justice system where it is appropriate to do so, having considered the offending behaviour, the rights of the victim, and the interests of society.

Diversion into the Garda youth diversion programme is the first option, except in the case of serious crimes, or serious repeat offending. The statutory Garda programme is supported by a network of 93 youth diversion projects, each of which is managed by a community-based organisation, which may be a youth service or a local community resource centre. These community-based initiatives seek to divert young people who have become involved in crime and antisocial behaviour. They also support the wider preventative work within their communities, in particular with at-risk families.

We all know there is no quick-fix solution to diverting young offenders away from a life of crime. However, these youth diversion projects offer a responsive, empathetic road towards a better life for so many. I have been fortunate to see at first hand the incredible work being done by people in these projects around the country. I recently visited the Limerick Youth Service's youth diversion project, the Moyross youth diversion project in my home county and the Clare Youth Service in Ennis. These visits were great opportunities for me to meet the staff and participants of the projects and to hear their experiences. Both projects do amazing work in their respective communities, responding to the changing needs of families who use their services. The Moyross project, for example, operates a scrambler initiative, which receives funding from my Department. This programme seeks to educate young people about the safe use of vehicles as well as provide opportunities for motocross, personal development and educational activities. Youth diversion projects offer a chance at a better, more fulfilling life. Their work has been shown to have hugely positive impacts on the young people involved, their families and their communities.

My Department conducted a youth diversion project evaluation, which identified decreasing risk levels among participants in respect of peer relations, leisure and recreation, personality and behaviour, and attitudes and orientation. It showed that young people who engage in youth diversion projects were less involved in criminal or antisocial behaviour, had improved self-confidence and communication skills, increased happiness and an overall improved sense of hope....

Senator Nicole Ryan: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, and thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to speak on this critical issue.

Our goal must be clear: to keep as many young people as possible out of the criminal justice system by addressing the root causes of crime, which are poverty, exclusion, addiction and lack of opportunities for younger people. Prevention and rehabilitation must be the focus if we are serious about building a safer and fairer community.

While cities see some level of youth investment, rural Ireland is constantly being left behind. Services are often concentrated in urban centres while rural communities are left scrambling for scraps. In my constituency of Cork North-West, we have one community superintendent who is in charge of 19 different towns and villages all at the one time.

For many young people, the cost of college, the lack of accommodation and the high prices of travel mean they are staying in their communities and they are being locked out of opportunities. We see many young people staying in the community just because they cannot afford to move out of their community into the bigger cities. They are staying in communities because, as I said, there are fewer options and very little support and it is a space where sometimes poverty, addiction and isolation can take root.

Addiction is a key part of this picture, especially in rural Ireland in recent years. Whether it is alcohol, drugs or behavioural addictions such as gambling, they are not individual moral failings. As an addiction counsellor myself, I have worked with many young people who are in the depths of addiction who come from fantastic families but who are now tied up in different parts of the criminal system because they owe debts to people. It is something that, in rural Ireland, is still seen as more of an urban issue than a rural issue but, in fact, it is everybody's problem. It is an issue in every crevice and village in Ireland, both rural and urban.

These symptoms disguise a deeper cause of social inclusion inequality, and if we want to talk about crime, we have to talk about the addiction treatment and the mental health supports that young people need and the poverty reduction around that. Youth workers play a vital role in this as well. Everyone shared their sentiment about youth work. Sometimes the youth worker is the only consistent adult in young people's lives. The youth worker is the trusted adult they need but, equally, youth workers also need funding because we see many youth workers being undervalued and underpaid and they do such amazing work. Substantial investment in youth work would be fantastic....

[Click here for the full debate on the Oireachtas website]