A Dublin city centre business lobby group has called for curfews and exclusion orders targeting young people involved in persistent anti-social behaviour, following recent incidents of serious violence in the capital.
Richard Guiney, chief executive of Dublin Town, suggested on RTÉ radio that measures similar to anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) should be considered for a “small cohort” of young people whose behaviour is “persistently difficult and challenging.”
Speaking to The Journal, Guiney proposed that curfews of 8pm or 9pm, or general bans from entering the core city centre area, could be applied to young people whose behaviour is repeatedly problematic. He said exclusions could also be used in other areas where children are “congregating and getting themselves into trouble.”
The proposals come amid ongoing debate about safety in Dublin city centre and concern from businesses about the impact of anti-social behaviour on their operations. Guiney said Dublin Town members are affected by young people stealing from shops and abusing staff, with problems deteriorating since the pandemic.
“Kids are coming in and, you know, not even hiding that they’re stealing stuff, being quite brazen and actually saying to staff ‘go on, call the guards, there’s nothing they can do, I’m whatever age’,” Guiney said.
He noted that while the majority of young people who enter the gardaí’s youth diversion programme through juvenile liaison officers don’t reoffend, a minority continue to cause problems. The issue affects businesses on both sides of the city, he said.
When asked whether excluding children from the city centre could demonise young men from deprived backgrounds, Guiney rejected the suggestion. “JLOs work across the board – kids from middle-class backgrounds have been in the JLO system as well. It’s not the background of the person, it’s the behaviour,” he said.
Guiney acknowledged that while Dublin is “statistically” a safe city, “people don’t feel safe,” and argued that underlying reasons for this perception need to be addressed.
The proposals represent a significant intervention in youth justice policy and would likely require legislative changes to implement. Such measures would need to balance public safety concerns with children’s rights and the principle of rehabilitation over punishment in juvenile justice.