‘Social services, not gardaí, needed to tackle crime’
Sociologist Dr Niamh Hourigan spent a year interviewing criminals, gang members and victims in Limerick to probe anecdotal evidence that children were being groomed to harass, intimidate and harm those who objected to gangland rule in neighbourhoods.
She found ample proof that children aged between three and 14 were used by gang leaders to keep in line members of the community who threatened their authority. Youngsters were used for trespassing, destroying gardens, breaking windows and damaging property, writing offensive graffiti and, in more serious cases, setting fire to homes.
The youngest child she found routinely involved in harassment was a three-year-old encouraged to verbally abuse people while she also discovered an eight-year-old who had helped burn down a home.
The UCC lecturer said that while the usual response was to demand more gardaí, the more effective response would be to send in family support workers.
“That’s not to say we don’t need more regulation around the grooming of children by adults but the gardaí have powers already that are unworkable. People are afraid to make formal complaints to them and there is a real reluctance to criminalise children so it is very difficult for gardaí to take action,” she said.
She said many children who ended up being used by gangs were victims of neglect and from families which were themselves in turmoil and needed support. “You need to intervene when the child is three or four. Really by the age of 10 it’s too late. It doesn’t have to be as extreme as removing a child from the family but that the family know the State is there, that it’s watching, it’s supervising.”
Dr Hourigan said without intervention, many children trained in gangland ways would go on to become adult offenders.
Her full study will be published later this year.
