Young people engaged in antisocial behaviour may be sanctioned with Antisocial Behaviour Orders (Asbos) from today.
The scheme that comes into force today involves a tiered system in which a range of alternatives will be explored before an Asbo is taken out against a child.
First, a child must be given a "street warning". If antisocial behaviour continues, the child's parents will be invited to draw up a "good behaviour contract" with the local Garda superintendent.
If the child continues to behave in an antisocial way, he or she will be referred to the Garda's diversion programme. If a problem still remains, the need for an Asbo may arise.
For children aged 12 to 14, "good behaviour orders" may be taken out instead of an Asbo. The terms of this order will differ by empowering the court to bind parents to ensure their child stops offending. Such parents may be ordered to undergo parenting courses or seek other forms of help.
Pressure groups such as the Children's Rights Alliance have criticised the new measures and called instead for the full resourcing of the Children's Act.
They say alternatives to detention provided for in the Act, such as community sanctions, are not fully in place because the Government has not resourced them.
But Mr McDowell has insisted that Asbos will be a last-resort measure.
He has also pointed to significant differences between the way Asbos may be issued in the Republic and the United Kingdom which, he said, would ensure they were used fairly and reasonably.