Control your child or face €3,000 fine in crackdown

PARENTS who fail to control their children can be fined up to €3,000 under new powers which come into force from today.

Under the 2001 Children’s Act, which was amended by the Government in recent weeks, the courts can now hold parents responsible for the actions of young offenders.

Junior Justice Minister Willie O’Dea said the legislation was introduced “because there are gangs of out-of-control juniors roaming the streets”.

Mr O’Dea said when gardaí approach parents about the problem they are not getting any help. “When this happens the question that everyone is asking is where are the parents?” Mr O’Dea said.

The junior minister urged district and circuit court judges to start using the new law immediately to curb the increasing number of young offenders nationwide.

The legislation allows judges to fine parents who do not control their children or can force them to pay compensation to victims. “People on the bench you have the power to make parents responsible for underage kids,” Mr O’Dea said.

If judges fail to use the law Mr O’Dea said the Government will draft new legislation to ensure parents cannot shirk their responsibilities.

He also announced that 690 new gardaí will be on the beat in the next six months. He said the new recruits will boost the total force to 12,200, the highest in the history of the State.

The establishment of a garda reserve force is also on the cards and these officers will assist the gardaí in areas such as traffic

duties. Gardaí are going to get increased powers to preserve a crime scene and more regular plain-clothes officers will be used to fight street crime.

However, an election pledge to train 2,000 extra gardaí in the lifetime of the Government

may not be honoured unless the resources are there, Mr O’Dea said.

The Limerick-based minister further vowed that the suspected contract killers hired to carry out killings in his hometown will be prosecuted by gardaí.

But the opposition last night criticised the new power, describing it as a “headline-grabbing” measure that would have little impact on juvenile crime.

Labour Party spokesman on Justice Joe Costello said children who are offenders often come from the most deprived background. He said in many cases their parents will be unlikely to have the money to make any significant compensation payments.

He added: “The provisions of the 2001 Act will place a significant extra demand on the services of the Probation and Welfare Service, which is already over-stretched and barely able to cope.

“It will also place extra demands on the gardaí,” he said.