Down with Boot Camps? Stop being kneejerk over a new idea and examine it on its merits, writes Billy Timmins
When it comes to dealing with juvenile crime two things are almost certain: a phenomenal amount of money will be spent on detention centres; and those detention centres will have little or no impact on the long-term pattern of behaviour of its inmates.
In fact, the system is not working.According to the Public Accounts Committee, in the region of €300,000 to €500,000 is spent to keep just one young offender in a detention centre for one year.
At one centre in particular, Finglas, the cost in 2004 of maintaining a detention place for a young person was as high as €507,407.
And what do we get for all this financial outlay? When young offenders are released from detention centres you are almost guaranteed that they will re-offend. The system is not working.
Through no fault of the over-worked, under-appreciated staff the institutions used to house young offenders are in a dilapidated state.
Around the same time that the costs were made public, an eminent campaigner for young people described St Patrick's Institution, a place of detention for males aged 16 to 21, as a "disaster", where inmates had nothing to do except plan how to get drugs into the place to kill the boredom. This system is not working and because it does not work, we are failing our young. We need to examine new ideas. Innovative proposals must be found and considered, no matter where they come from.
Fine Gael wants to look at alternatives to this failed approach. In stating an intention to look at new ideas in this area earlier this week a number of people have reacted in a typical knee-jerk way.
It seems to be a behaviour particular to certain sections of Irish society to rule out of order any new thinking on an issue, even when existing approaches are failing appallingly. That is a pity, but that can't stop the search for new solutions.
So what is Fine Gael considering? Fine Gael wants to look creatively at ways in which the Defence Forces could become more involved in the communities where they are based.
As a former officer in the Defence Forces I know that there is a wealth of experience, skills, training and physical resources that can potentially be tapped in to.
This could particularly be the case in providing leadership to community groups or in providing a programme which could be an alternative to prison for young offenders.
Before providing this alternative, I envisage a wide consultation process with relevant bodies such as the probation service and community groups and will examine how similar programmes worked in other countries.
The good and bad results of these programmes will be examined to come up with a scheme that is workable in Ireland. Already we have identified both good and bad case studies from overseas. The challenge for us will be to discard the bad and look to build on the good. That has to be an achievable goal.
The final aim of this will be to see how a pilot project could be developed to offer young offenders a voluntary option incorporating a plan involving the Defence Forces instead of prison. I can foresee courses centred on discipline and rehabilitation. I can envisage participants operating on a 16-hour day incorporating physical training, a strong emphasis on education and in particular vocational training.
Respect would form a central plank of all programmes with the teaching of basic social skills a component if necessary. Fine Gael's plan would imbue our young people with life-skills from orienteering to maths to building, and it would not stop when the course is completed. Follow-ups would play an integral part with offenders placed in jobs or positions of responsibility when they re-enter society. The programme could afford these juveniles an opportunity they never had before.
It is time that we faced up to some facts. Committing juveniles to prison for anti-social behaviour or other minor criminal behaviour does not work. The Defence Forces personnel, skills and facilities are a viable, useful potential alternative. Others have casually referred to this notion as a boot camp. I see them as an alternative rehabilitation centre to the failing system currently in place.
Since we put out this idea I am not surprised at the level of support we have received from the general public, but I am surprised at the numerous offers of assistance from professionals in the area who want to develop a concept that can provide a better alternative. Defence Force personnel have a can-do approach and many and varied skills. Those they don't have can be acquired or hired.
Fine Gael has been attacked in the past for supporting "wet rooms" (drying out areas for drunks) in A&E units, even though they are already in use in some Irish hospitals. We were attacked for promoting greater protection for homeowners who confront intruders, only to be criticised bitterly by opponents. The Law Reform Commission now supports our view.
Finally, we were told that having sentencing guidelines for judges, who must publicly explain any deviation from these guidelines, was interfering with the judiciary. The DPP has recently advocated exactly what Fine Gael proposed at our ardfheis earlier this year.
Before allowing the knee to assume the "jerk" position in relation to new ideas promoted by Fine Gael our critics and political opponents should first engage in a debate. If there is a problem to be solved, in whatever area, let's not exclude new ideas out of ignorance, political dishonesty or a blind refusal to engage in new thinking.
• Billy Timmins is Fine Gael spokesman on defence