Matt Shanahan demands action on youth crime and Garda resources
Matt Shanahan raised concerns about rising youth involvement with the courts and the impact of disadvantage on families in Waterford. He urged immediate action on Garda resources, a new drug strategy, stronger community policing and investment in schools, clubs and local infrastructure.
Problems in disadvantaged communities
Shanahan outlined how people in disadvantaged areas feel vulnerable both inside and outside their homes because of gangs, anti-social behaviour, drugs and coercion of children into criminality. He warned that ongoing disadvantage leads to lack of education, role models and employment and that the poverty cycle is likely to repeat without targeted supports.
Policing, resources and facilities
He criticised current Garda resourcing in Waterford, citing a new divisional headquarters without adequate locker rooms and a 999 monitoring room serving 10 counties that is overcrowded and poorly ventilated. Shanahan said there are 16 full-time Gardaí under-resourced and no sergeants promoted despite allocations, and called for those issues to be addressed immediately.
Drug strategy and criminal intelligence
Shanahan called for a new drug strategy to tackle drug barons, mules and dealers and urged better engagement by CAB and community intelligence gathering. He argued that community policing and properly resourced Gardaí are prerequisites for profiling criminals and disrupting mid-level and low-level crime.
Community supports and coordination
He emphasised school clubs, breakfast clubs, GAA and local sports clubs as essential supports and urged that sports grants prioritise poorly funded communities. Shanahan welcomed the Local Community Safety Partnership and the involvement of Mr Sean Aylward, and stressed the need for coordinated action between voluntary services and state agencies. He highlighted problems where volunteers trying to help a family were blocked from engaging with Tuzla and called for better communication and early intervention.
Education, role models and family policy
Shanahan urged investment in education and public realm maintenance in disadvantaged areas and recommended bringing role models to speak to young people about the poverty consequences of unplanned pregnancy. He also raised the need for a social welfare solution for fathers who refuse to pay child support and asked whether failure to list fathers on birth certificates — which previously hindered tracking — has been rectified.
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Minister, my constituency office is also across from the courthouse in Waterford, and I'd reflect exactly what the other deputy has referenced here about that. It's terrible to see the amount of young people involved with the courts. Minister, it's possibly a fact that people in our general community feel vulnerable and safe at times, particularly when outside their homes. But I can tell you it is a certain fact that people who live in disadvantaged areas certainly feel vulnerable for themselves and their children, whether inside or outside their homes. because of the issues of gangs, anti-social behaviour, drugs and substance abuse, and the danger of them or their children being coerced or exposed to criminality and low-level and mid-level crime. We know that disadvantage leads to further disadvantage, a lack of education, a lack of role models, a lack of employment. If no career choice, an ongoing disadvantage will be repeated in the family cycle, most likely. So the strategies that you're talking about proposed still leads to the involvement of community and built around that. But I'd ask you, how do you get youth and chaotic parenting to engage, Minister? School clubs and school breakfast clubs and school dinners, I think, need to be resourced in every part of the country. I've had some experience of these in the past and they do tremendous work in terms of offering, if children are going to school hungry, you have no chance of teaching them, and furthermore, they feel deprived when they compare themselves to the other children in their school. And the teachers certainly want to support this, but I know in my own area of a school club, which was getting very little resourcing, other than private monies put into it. GAA and local sports clubs and community clubs are an absolute must, Minister. And certainly in the sports grants allocation that you're now considering, certainly the low-level communities must be considered within that, those that are poorly funded. I welcome the initiative of the Local Community Safety Partnership, and I hope that Mr Sean Aylward, a past Secretary-General of the Department of Justice, is leading that out in Waterford, and I wish him the very best of luck with it. But I spoke in the House recently, the Minister, on the resources to our Gardaí, and I mentioned that in Waterford, the new divisional headquarters, the officers haven't even got room, they haven't even got locker room, to put their bags in, to change their clothes. The monitoring room down there that serves 10 counties for all 999 emergency calls, and they're sitting cheek-by-jowel in rooms with barely windows of ventilation. It is ridiculous when you look at that. They are presently under-resourced, 16 full-time Gardaí resources, and no sergeants yet promoted, even though they have been allocated in the past two years. These are something that needs attention immediately, Minister. We need a new drug strategy, how to tackle the drug barons, the mules and the dealers. And we need again to see how CAB is engaging at this level, and we need community intelligence. And you won't develop that without getting the community involved with community policing. And that requires the building up of trust. So how does a community-based organisation, allied with public services, support and engage with families, who have little trust? And I think you need to build a bridge, Minister, between local welfare offices and the Gardaí. And I'm not sure what communication goes on there, but in my experience, very little. We need to build community trust that builds development for the citizens of that community. And we need early intervention and targeting of vulnerable families and young children by support services of the state. But also to have a coordinated vision between the voluntary support services. I won't tell you about a case in Waterford, but I'll just outline where volunteers were going into a family in Waterford, where there was incredible hardship and distress among small kids. And they were trying to engage with Tuzla, and they were told that they couldn't engage with Tuzla, that Tuzla were engaged, and yet they were going in week after week and seeing no remediation of the situation going on in there. That is not acceptable any longer, Minister. And if this initiative is to work, this is something that you have to have a look at. We need Gardaí resources, as I said, involved in crime, and we need criminals properly profiled. And if the intelligence is there, that can be done if the resourcing is there. We also need to start with a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour and vandalism. And whether that's caused by those living in disadvantage or students attending third level, there's no difference in my mind. They are equally culpable in this note. And we need evidence of success being possible for disadvantaged communities. And I would ask you, Minister, to look at the investment in capital initiatives, the investment in maintaining the public realms in disadvantaged areas. And I would also talk to you about we need education. And certainly we need to bring role models in to talk to young people about the poverty trap of unplanned pregnancy and to try and give them a different model in order to see where their future might lie. We need a social welfare answer also to fathers who refuse to pay child support. Minister, before I entered politics in Waterford, I brought up the issue. And maybe you'll come back to me on this. At the time, it was my understanding that there was no obligation for fathers to be noted on a birth cert. And that therefore, if they weren't noted, there was no way for social welfare to track them. So you might please come back to me and let me know, has that situation been rectified? In Australia at the time, if you didn't register a father on the birth cert, you got 30% less family income. And that made sure that there was a father and that made sure that the state knew where to go to get family payments. In conclusion, Minister, we need resources with funding streams guaranteed. So the future planning can be assured. And we need buy-in to deliver on the plan from all public bodies and agencies. So I hope this new youth strategy that your planning minister is going to provide the answer. And hopefully this house will not have to wait too long before we advise whether it is having an impact on the ground or not. Thank you.
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