Social Democrats children spokesperson Aidan Farrelly has today slammed the government\u2019s latest response to juvenile anti-social behaviour.<\/p>\n
Deputy Farrelly said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI am getting sick and tired of seeing politicians and commentators conflate anti-social behaviour and criminal activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnti-social behaviour is defined as nuisance or disturbance, such as hanging around or making noise – things that come naturally to young people, as annoying as it may be.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, it is extremely dangerous to suggest that children should be criminalised for these behaviours – limiting youth freedoms and restricting their freedom of movement should not be on this government\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us be categorically clear here \u2013 young people, simply by existing, do not pose a threat to anyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrimes, as laid out by the letter of the law, should be treated with utmost seriousness by the appropriate levers of the justice system – treating minor disturbances by juveniles in the same way would unnecessarily enter young people into the justice system, which evidence shows is difficult to reverse.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor this government to endorse curfews for young people, fines for parents and the establishment of a \u2018mini criminal assets bureau\u2019 to confiscate games consoles and mobile phones from children and young people – as if that will achieve something meaningful – is frankly disgraceful.<\/p>\n
\u201cYoung people should be seen as more than just a topic of moral concern if and when a story breaks, or a TV show lands on Netflix.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am truly concerned about the ways in which our societal discourse about children and young people is evolving – only a few months ago, there was collective concern raised when people had watched a TV programme that shed light on the pressures facing young people online.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, we\u2019ve seen TDs like Paul Gogarty, who is due to feature on RT\u00c9\u2019s Primetime tonight on the topic, stand in the D\u00e1il and call for the most extreme judicial measures be introduced without being able to reference any meaningful evidence about anti-social behaviour, instead citing examples of criminal activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t challenge this discourse by way of asking questions about the root cause of such behaviour, which I firmly believe is the responsibility of government policy, we will continue to see children and young people being negatively stereotyped.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, we must adequately fund youth groups, youth intervention and diversion programmes, and community initiatives which evidence shows are effective ways in reducing youth offending.\u201d<\/p>\n
September 25th, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats children spokesperson Aidan Farrelly has today slammed the government\u2019s latest response to juvenile anti-social behaviour. Deputy Farrelly said: \u201cI am getting sick and tired of seeing politicians and commentators conflate anti-social behaviour and criminal activity. \u201cAnti-social behaviour is defined as nuisance or disturbance, such as hanging around or making noise – things that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,540,502,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aidan-farrelly","category-children","category-crime","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n