Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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32. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if there are plans to expand the youth diversion programme in County Carlow; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38009/24]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Youth Diversion Projects (YDPs) are community-based, multi-agency, youth crime prevention initiatives which primarily seek to divert young people who have been, or are at risk of becoming, involved in anti-social and/or criminal behaviour.

Youth Diversion Projects are run by community-based organisations and are a vital support to the statutory Garda Youth Diversion Programme. There are currently 100 YDPs throughout the State, including four new projects which were established in 2023 and are now up and running. Two further YDPs are due to be established by end of year 2024 which will achieve full national coverage of the YDP service.

I can confirm that the YDP in County Carlow provides a service throughout the entire county, so the service is available to those who need it anywhere in the county. As such, there are no plans to expand it.

There is ongoing work at a high-level to engage a number of at-risk cohorts of children and young people in communities to divert them away from the Criminal Justice system. A collaborative, best practice approach is being taken to this to devise a training and support framework for YDPs.

Under the Youth Justice Strategy, this work includes expanding the existing YDPs’ mandate to undertake early intervention work with 8-11 year-olds who are at risk of engaging in criminality or anti-social behaviour later in life.

It also includes work to provide tailored support to the families of their participants, support schools to retain YDP participants in the education system, and conduct outreach work with those children and young people who have been identified as harder-to-reach.

In order to support this work, and to continue delivering on the services already in place, I have increased Youth Justice spending by 10% in Budget 2024 to bring the total to €33 million.