Students: ASBOs are quick-fix solutions

Anti-social Behaviour Orders are a quick-fix solution which will only criminalise young people, it was claimed today.

The Union of Students of Ireland (USI) and the Union of Secondary Students (USS) both announced they would be taking part in a protest march against the orders, known and ASBOs, which are part of the forthcoming Criminal Justice Bill.

“The ASBOs are a complete abortion of natural justice. It’s just a quick-fix, trying to show we’re tackling antisocial behaviour,” said USS president Hazel Nolan.

In Britain, ASBOs can be applied for by the police and local authorities which prohibit offenders from certain actions, such as associating with certain people or loitering in a certain area. A breach of the ASBO is a criminal office.

USI campaigns officer Rory Hearne said the Government would do better to invest in facilities such as swimming pools in areas experiencing problems with antisocial behaviour.

“This is trying to divert attention from the root causes of why such levels of anti-social behaviour exist, particularly in working-class communities,” he said.

The protest march will begin this Saturday in Parnell Square in Dublin at 2.30pm and continue to the Central Bank.

At a news conference to publicise the march, Frank McBrearty Junior said he too was opposed to the concept. “A public order offence is deeply flawed and the ASBO offence is deeply flawed,” he said.

Mr McBrearty, who was falsely accused by gardai of the murder of the Donegal cattle dealer Richie Barron, said his family’s experience was testimony to the danger of giving more power to the gardaí.

“My family was severely harassed by the Garda force. The public order act was used against us," he said.

“In the vast majority of times the guard is believed before the ordinary man in the street is believed.”

He called on the Government to introduce the reforms in the Patten Report, which was used to create the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Hot Press editor Niall Stokes said his magazine was running a petition against the ASBOs and had already collected the signatures of folk singer Christy Moore and the Frames’ lead singer Glen Hansard.

He said he was deeply shocked by the contents of the Criminal Justice Bill in its current form, including the proposal to allow gardaí to issue on-the-spot fines. He added that the proposals had been designed without consulting organisations such as the National Youth Council.

“What that reflects to me is a deep dislike of young people among the chattering classes and political classes that borders on contempt.”

Although the concept of ASBOs is supported by Fianna Fáil, the Progressive Democrats, Fine Gael and the Labour Party, Sinn Féin and the Green Party say they are opposed to them.

“It doesn’t solve the problem. It hasn’t solved it in England and it won’t solve it here,” said Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe said there were better alternatives, such as investing more money in Garda youth-diversion projects, filling the vacant truancy officer posts at the National Education Welfare Board and implementing the parental supervision orders provided for under the 2001 Children’s Act.

“What we need to do is direct more resources to vulnerable members of society,” he said.

He added that people in his constituency wanted more gardaí on the beat and more community investment but not ASBOs.