Agency urged to target young offenders

IRELAND needs a single agency to target juvenile criminals and children who are at risk of getting into trouble with the law, the head of the National Crime Council has said.

Padraic White said many children who drop out of school fall into “administrative black holes” and are not picked up by any state body.

“There is no agency looking at the big picture and at the scale and location of the children ‘at risk’ and assessing the adequacy of the initiatives in relation to the numbers involved.