DURING the Gallanstown riots last Hallowe'en, many people were asking: "Where are the fathers?" Our assumption that every father has an innate ability to discipline his children is as unquestioning as our assumption that having no father is going to get a boy into trouble.

But there is no evidence that having an absent father really makes you a criminal, or that having an interested father figure protects a child from developing anti social behaviour.

Patrick O'Dea, a probation officer in Dublin, had a caseload of at least half a dozen boys in trouble with the law on the day he talked to The Irish Times. Each and every one of them had an interested father playing a role in his life. One father was a criminal, another a well to do businessman with some serious psychological problems, yet another wanted the best for his son. The shocking fact was that all the boys had fathers who cared - but were they caring in the right way?

"Ineffective or dysfunctional fathering can be worse than having no father at all," says Michael O'Connor, director of Oberstown Boys' Centre in Dublin. A very strong mother can make all the difference, even when the father is absent, he adds.

Having a father who is a criminal greatly increases the risk that a boy will turn to criminal behaviour, according to Professor Donald West's 35 year study of 411 British boys. This is because criminal fathers communicate a general attitude to life that is rebellious and against authority which the children soon pick up.

Parents may be so deeply involved in criminal subculture that their sons are actually "succeeding" by following them into lives of crime, according to Ann Wall, deputy director of Oberstown Boys' Centre in Co Dublin.

The theory that anti social behaviour may be not only learned, but also inherited is controversial, although several scientific studies have recently found that juvenile delinquents have different brain patterns and even different physical brain formations than other children. Professor Richard Lynn of the University of Ulster is convinced that such defects are passed from parent to child and argues that crime is on the increase because criminals are reproducing themselves faster than non criminals.

That may be, although in Dublin you are more likely to hear experts working with juvenile delinquents say something different. Many have observed that juvenile delinquents get away with murder because they know how to intimidate their parents.

"Be a parent, not a pal," is the advice which Dr Nuala Healy and Marie Murray offer the parents of troubled children attending St Joseph's Adolescent Services at St Vincent's Psychiatric Hospital in Dublin. Many parents they see are well meaning but do not have the confidence to stand up to their children.

"If I ate the head off him, he'd beat me," is the cry which Ms Wall hears from the parents of many of the 30 children detained by order of the court at Oberstown. Many of these parents do not have the self esteem to say "no" and have to be taught to be empowered to set limits for their own children, she says.

The 12 to 16 year olds at Oberstown have started riding roughshod over their parents and the system from the age of seven or eight, on average, when the truancy starts. By eight or nine, they have started shop lifting - which is when the juvenile liaison officer gets involved. By the age of 12, almost all have been using heroin, cocaine and other drugs and the probation and welfare officer has become a fixture in their lives. Some of the 12 year olds who arrive at Oberstown have never attended school regularly and have learned to trust no one, especially adults.

If we really want to do something about tackling the roots of crime in our society, we need to empower vulnerable parents, working with them from the very outset when children are still at the toddler stage, believes Mr Michael O'Connor, director of Oberstown.

"I would not see myself as an expert on the community's ills," says Mr O'Connor, "but I certainly see the need for a huge community input, identifying kids at risk and working with families long before these kids come into contact with the law."