Minister of State at the Department of Justice James Browne visited the Teen at Risk group in Tipperary Town yesterday.
He says the aim of these projects is not to be ‘soft on crime’ but rather encourage vulnerable young people through education, training, employment and other support initiatives to steer them away from criminality.
Minister Browne says that while it can be challenging to stop the coercion of young people locally into crime, the youth projects in conjunction with the education system here has had good success.
There’s certainly a strong correlation between young people not attending school and getting involved in criminal or antisocial behaviour. The earlier you can identify those people the better results we do have in terms of helping those people get onto a better pathway.
“Most of them do react very well once there’s a certain intervention put in place. I have to say the education sector here in Tipperary – working with the Gardaí, with the ETB, school completion officers – they are having a lot of really good success. And we’re looking forward to rolling out further supports right across Tipperary.”
