Gardaí have legislative powers to deal with much antisocial behaviour, which they could "implement tonight if they so wish", Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte challenged Mr Ahern about a Government response to the growing problem.
The Taoiseach said gardaí had "sufficient legislative powers to deal with these criminals in a tough and rough way".
"We passed laws in this House many years ago about not drinking in public or walking around with boxes of drink or ghetto-blasters. Many of those powers are ignored, but they exist for the gardaí to implement, tonight if they so wish."
He did not believe it took "too much Garda strength to deal with 13- or 14-year-olds or as Deputy Rabbitte said, 12-year-olds. They are not armed criminal gangs".
But the Taoiseach pointed to the Children Act, part of which dealt with counselling families and rehabilitating children engaged in such behaviour.
"One cannot lock them up, and I will not enforce such a policy," he said.
Mr Rabbitte said resources were not being put into measures that could address the problem.
"Unfortunate people are being tortured in their own communities because of the actions of young thugs and hooligans who are out of control, with no parental responsibility."
The Taoiseach insisted that huge resources were going to the Garda. He had attended many public meetings "where gardaí have said in front of several hundred people that there are cases where they do not have the powers to act regarding young people".
The Garda believes it needs tougher powers to "deal with some of those gangs of hoodlums and thugs who simply want to manipulate communities". It needs to have civil and curfew orders to deal with the issue.
"We can pass the legislation and then one hopes our gardaí will enforce it." But, he said, there was plenty of legislation in place, which they could "implement tonight if they wished".
The Minister for Justice will make amendments to the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill going though the Oireachtas, which will introduce extra provisions for curfew orders and civil orders against people who act out of order in society and "in so far as the current legislation is not strong enough, the Minister will strengthen it with, I hope, everybody's support in the House", Mr Ahern said.
"The issue is not law but the lack of enforcement," Mr Rabbitte said. While there were considerable powers available to the Garda, "they either do not have the resources, or they are not deployed in a fashion that allows them to implement the law. "There is an absence of community gardaí patrolling neighbourhoods. The gardaí are simply not there to do the job that modern living conditions require. People are besieged in their own homes, persecuted and harassed for no apparent reason." If there were "widespread community sanctions and those young vandals were required to clean up some of the mess that they had created in those neighbourhoods, that would be real action".
Mr Ahern said enormous resources had been made available to the Garda "regarding its numbers, overtime, equipment and intelligence". He did not believe it took too much Garda strength to deal with young teenagers and most of what Mr Rabbitte talked about "has been done by children causing disruption in their own areas".
