A pilot scheme aimed at diverting young people in Dublin away from drugs and crime "should be in every area and every town in the country", the Garda sergeant in charge of it has said.
Garda Sgt Barry Moore was speaking at a conference on the juvenile "arrest referral" scheme, which has been operating in the north-inner city since 2002.
"There have been more referrals to the scheme in the first three months of this year than during all of last year. It will get bigger, and I hope it gets a lot bigger."
The scheme, modelled on programmes used by police authorities in England and Wales, encourages young, drug-using offenders into treatment. When a young person is arrested and their crime deemed to be drug-related, they are offered "fast-track" access to assessment and treatment for their alcohol or drug abuse.
The north-inner city scheme represents the first formalised co-operation between the Garda and the health services.
Sgt Moore said he had been working with the juvenile liaison programme for seven years with some of the most disadvantaged children in the State. This scheme, he said, was "excellent" and "of enormous benefit".
"It's about early intervention. We are trying to get the young people before they become chronic addicts, but still involved in substance abuse. There's no point getting them when they're 19 or 20 and addicted to opiates."
He said, however, that while numbers were "manageable" within existing resources, "funding and staffing will become an issue if the trend of increasing demand continues".
Though uptake of the scheme has been slow in its first year, with seven referrals, to the end of March this year there were 12 referrals. Caitríona Brady, Addiction services outreach worker with the Health Service Executive (Northern Area), described the increase as "impressive" and predicted the rate of demand would continue to increase as the scheme became better established.
An evaluation of the pilot scheme, published yesterday, recommends the employment of two youth workers. Currently the scheme is run by the Garda and addiction services in addition to the work they already do.
Jackie Kennedy, addiction services manager with the Cleveland Arrest Referral Scheme in Britain, said additional resources were "really important" to develop the programme. In Britain, she said, the Home Office had invested £500 million in developing these schemes.
Yvonne McWither, of the Arrest Referral Scheme in Derry, said there was "no way" the scheme could be properly run without dedicated staff.
Patricia O'Connor, director of the National Drugs Strategy Team, said the economic benefits of such programmes were "tangible".
"The report shows that in Britain, for every £1 spent on treatment £3 is saved on law enforcement."
