About time too

Some good news today. Anybody with a half a brain can see that crime in Ireland is very predictable; where it happens and who does it. Now I'm talking about crime that people get sent to jail for - not harmless, victimless, tax-dodging/fraud/embezzlement or sexual assaults. I'm talking about drug users and dealers, thieves and fighters, your stereotypical, middle-Ireland, Paul Williams definition of a 'bad' guy.

So the good news. Brian Lenihan, candidate for Dublin West and a quite good one I must say, is not a complete moron so he doesn't state the above but he does act on it. Today he announces the funding for the Children's Act 2001 will FINALLY come on stream. This is less popular than ASBOs but it is much more effective in dealing with young people who get into crime (remember about 95% of children in St Pat's will get out, re-offend and end up in Mountjoy...95%! Evidence, I strongly say, that the criminal justice system is failing the Irish public).

Now we will have judges who can actually deal with 15 and 16 year olds, not condescend with arcane language. Families will also be brought in. This is to be welcomed and although the timing is spurious - six years after the Bill came in, six weeks before the general election - Lenihan deserves credit. Youth crime should not, unless it's particularly violent, be dealt with by just the Department of Justice - we need a more expansive approach that involves social welfare, education and justice. This is the only chance we have to make a better Ireland and end the cycles of poverty that are analogous to the cycles of crime.

I've left the key with my neighbour and he's promised to keep an eye on the place, but not sadly my blog. So I'll be away for the weekend and the blog will as productive as a student with a hangover. Alas I will miss blogging on the first round of the French elections - but you can keep in touch if you follow the links on the right of this posting.