Antisocial Behaviour
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

Obviously, the youth diversion programme does not mean that children cannot be arrested, convicted of offences or apprehended by gardaí. If gardaí come across youths who are involved in criminal behaviour or breaches of public order, they can apply the law in respect of them and it may be necessary at times for them to be arrested. The Deputy is right to say that this does result in further bureaucracy within a Garda station because arresting a child is treated differently to arresting an adult. That said, it still can be done and I want to assure the general public that gardaí can arrest juveniles who are involved in the commission of criminal behaviour. However, that does not mean that subsequently, after their arrest and once they go through that process, they cannot then be put on the pathway of the youth diversion programme.
Deputy Ward will know that generally criminal behaviour is committed predominantly by boys and men between the ages of 14 and 30. Once they reach the latter age, they cop on and they stop engaging in criminal behaviour. The Deputy is absolutely right that we are doing a disservice to people between the ages 14 and 18 if we do not try to stop or divert them. If they are committing criminal behaviour on the last day of their 17th year, once they turn 18 they are inevitably going to end up in the adult system and will probably be incarcerated.
I should have mentioned that I recall being with Deputy Ward out in Dún Laoghaire. I was impressed by what is going on out there but policing of youths is complicated. I want to try to ensure that there are greater resources for gardaí but also for young people. If youths are hanging around, which sometimes happens more in the summer months, we need to ensure that we have the services available as well so that they can do things like play football or get involved in sport and be diverted away from the criminal behaviour. However, if they are involved in criminal behaviour, the law should come down on them relatively hard because if it does not, we are doing them a disservice.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-16