Children’s Ombudsman calls for more work to divert children from detention

Ireland has not sufficiently invested in interventionist measures to divert young people from detention, the Ombudsman for Children has said.

Dr Niall Muldoon made the comments at the Parnell Summer School in Co Wicklow, The Irish Times reports. He called for proper supports for parents, support for early childcase, easily affordable and accessible early childhood education and supports when a child has difficulty in school.

Dr Muldoon added: “We need to join the dots to ensure the most vulnerable are supported so they don’t grow up to become the most disadvantaged and I’m not sure we have that yet.”

He praised the “very positive” Garda diversion programme, which has helped 7,000 yougn people, but said it could be improved.

He said the independent evaluation of the programme was “not quite” independent enough as 50 per cent of members on the committee are from An Garda Síochána. There are also gaps in the data and uncertainty over the outcomes and criteria for admission.

He said: “On average, 15 per cent of children referred to the programme are deemed unsuitable for it and we cannot easily learn why that is the case and what happens to those young people.”