Parents ‘not being held accountable’ for unruly children

THE Labour party said urgent action was needed to combat irresponsible parents of unruly children after it revealed that key pieces of legislation have not been used by the courts.

Jan O’Sullivan, the party’s spokewoman on health, said information she had received from the Courts Service indicated four sections of the Children Act — specifically targeting such parents — were not being enforced.

“New information I have obtained suggests that key sections of the Children Act 2001, designed to help combat juvenile crime by ensuring that parents took responsibility for children involved in acts of crime and vandalism, have never been used in the courts in the seven years since the act was passed.

“At a time when many communities continue to be plagued by juvenile crime and vandalism, often carried out by children barely into their teens, it is difficult to understand why the powers to make parents accountable for their children’s action, including accepting financial responsibility, have not been used.”

She said the relevant provisions of the act were:

Section 91: warrant for the arrest of a parent or guardian for failure to attend a court proceeding.

Section 111: order for the supervision of a child’s parent, where the court is satisfied that a willful failure of the parent to take care of or control the child contributed to the child’s criminal behaviour.

Section 113: compensation order against a parent or guardian of a child found guilty of an offence,

Section 114: an order requiring a parent or guardian to enter into a recognisance to exercise proper and adequate control over a child.

Ms O’Sullivan said she had sought information on the numbers of such orders from the Courts Service.

“The chief executive of the Courts Service has now replied to me saying that ‘information on court cases in the district court is not compiled in such a way as to provide the information you require’.

“However, he went on to say ‘enquiries were made with the Children’s Court Office in Dublin and Limerick and they have no record of the use by the courts of these provisions’.”

Ms O’Sullivan said: “I think it is fair to assume that if these powers have not been used in major urban centres like Dublin and Limerick, areas of which both experience significant problems of juvenile crime, then they are very unlikely to have been used elsewhere.”

A spokesperson for the Minister for Children said the “imposition of sanctions was a matter for the judiciary and the courts”.

She said that Sections 91, 113 and 114 were implemented on May 1, 2002. Section 111 was not implemented until July 27, 2007, because district court rules had to be amended beforehand.