James Browne

The Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027, developed by a steering group since 2019, is designed to provide a developmental framework to address key ongoing challenges, as well as new and emerging issues in the youth justice area.

It will provide for enhanced criminal justice processes, detention and post-detention measures to provide consistent support to encourage desistance from crime and promote positive personal development for young offenders.

Its immediate priority will be to enhance engagement with children and young people most at risk of involvement in criminal activity, principally by strengthening the services available through the existing network of 105 Garda Youth Diversion Projects (GYDPs).

This will include expanding and establishing new GYDPs to achieve “full national coverage” within two years, as well as enhancing the services they provide and improving their engagement with children below the age of criminal responsibility.

James Browne, minister of state for law reform, said: “Youth crime, including anti-social behaviour, can have a major impact on our communities and poses significant challenges for An Garda Síochána, as well as other justice agencies.

“The factors which underlie youth crime have significant implications across a range of policy and service provisions, including child and family services, health, education and local authority functions.

“This strategy will respond collaboratively to the situation of vulnerable children and young people, with a strong focus on diverting them away from offending, prevention and early intervention.”

He added: “I can’t stress enough the importance of bringing all the relevant agencies and programmes together, and of supporting schools, to ensure that we provide a holistic, ‘wrap around’ response to the needs of children and young people at risk.

“Young people should have the benefit of a ‘no wrong door’ experience – if a family or a young person engages any service, there should also be accessible pathways to other services and supports that they might need. And, ideally, we should be engaging young people at risk before they enter the justice system.”

Justice Minister Helen McEntee said: “This strategy aims to address the ‘hard to reach’ cohort of young people at risk and there will be a priority focus on more problematic offending. We will adopt a ‘never-give-up’ approach of engaging with those who are hardest for services to reach.

“The strategy also incorporates a focus on serious offending patterns. This includes further development of the successful bail supervision scheme and the Greentown programme aimed at children and young people who are subject to coercive control by criminal groups. Both these initiatives have received international awards as examples of innovation and good practice.”