A new high-level task force has been set up in the Department of Justice to examine all aspects of the juvenile justice system, The Irish Times has learned. Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent, reports.
It will co-ordinate its efforts with other Government Departments before preparing recommendations for Government before next summer. An aide-mémoire outlining its plan of work went to the Cabinet earlier this week.
The task force is headed by the former head of the equality section of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Ms Sylda Langford, and Mr Billy Byrne, who previously worked in the immigration and crime divisions of the Department.
"The Children's Act of 2001 puts responsibility for children in trouble across three Departments - Justice, Health and Education," Ms Langford told The Irish Times. "This Department decided to make it a priority area. We are starting from scratch. We have no fixed views or ideas."
She acknowledged that it had been difficult in the past to deal with the problems of young people in trouble across a number of Departments. "There are different points of delivery. But Ireland is a small country. It should not be beyond us.
"We will have to look at two things - what is Justice responsible for, and, more holistically, are there cracks in the system. We must look at why young people end up with Justice. We have to look at the children who are our responsibility, but to do that properly we have to look across the whole system.
"It is very long-term work. If a child starts off with developmental difficulties they can take a long time to resolve. They need to be tackled at the right time."
Mr Byrne said that they would be looking at what had worked elsewhere. "Things have been done in this area in the UK and Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland they seem to have focused on juvenile justice in a youth-centred way. We will look at what has been evaluated there."
"We need to know how many children we're talking about," said Ms Langford. "Is it 2,000, 1,000, 500? Are Justice, Health and Education talking about the same 500? There is a lot of information-gathering to be done."
However, she stressed this was not a glorified research project, but a practical task force that would come up with proposals for legislation, if necessary, for changes in the court system, and for more resources, if needed.
"We can't provide intensive services for everyone," she said. "The real challenge is to identify those who really need it and ensuring there is a place they can go to get it.
"If we see in The Irish Times that a 14-year-old has been in court and there is no place for him, we want to know why.
"But the easiest thing is to provide bricks and mortar. Other things are far more difficult. We need to stop and look before we leap. The thinking in the Children's Act is not custodial."