This article is from page 16 of the 2008-03-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
, as Fine Gael prepares to raise the issue of juve- nile offending in a private members motion in the Dail this (Tuesday)
evening.
Fine Gael is hitting out at the Gov- ernment’s record on the issue of un- derage offending and is calling for tough measures to be introduced.
It is calling for a comprehensive re- view on the availability of knives and to increase garda resources, in an ef- fort to tackle knife crime.
The party says it is concerned about the increase in incidents of anti-so- cial behaviour, the prevalence of al-
cohol and drug abuse and the prolif- eration of knife crime.
Fine Gael says the ongoing deterio- ration of law and order under Fianna Fail-led governments has created “fear and anxiety’ among the pub- liter
“A lot of the structures put in place over the past few years have to be rolled out,” said Cllr Carey.
“On the ground, I feel the system is very badly resourced. There isn’t
enough personnel involved,” he said.
He said that with hundreds of re- ferrals to the national juvenile office from Clare every year, additional gardai should be appointed to work with young offenders.
“We have two juvenile liaison of- ficers (JLOs) in Clare. This has in- creased from one a few years ago, but there is a huge volume of work for two people to be doing,” he said.
‘Restorative justice is the way for-
ward, but that initiative will be aspi- rational without resources,” he said.
“We (FG) want to see more com- munity policing in terms of juvenile justice,” he said.
He said that geographical areas most at risk must be identified and funding injected in those areas.
‘We need to invest in areas more at risk of problem behaviour and identi- fy the individuals at an earlier stage,” he said.