Family conferences instead of courts and raising the age of criminal responsibility are among the measures in a Bill to reform how the criminal justice system treats children.
The Children Bill replaces the 1908 Children Act, and aims to keep children out of court and out of detention.
It aims to tackle the problem of child-begging by putting the onus on parents to prove they did not send their children out to beg.
It allows courts to impose curfews on child offenders and to order them to stay away from certain places.
The Bill was published yesterday by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue.
The age of criminal responsibility is being raised from seven to 12. Children under 12 will be dealt with by the child care services of the health boards, as already happens in practice. For children over 12, there will be a variety of measures aimed at diverting them from offending or re-offending. The main mechanism for this will be the family welfare conference. This could be called by a health board, a probation officer, or by the Garda, depending on the circumstances.
The conferences will be expected to lead to action, which could include the child's attendance at school or at approved sports activities, treatment for the child, compensation for a victim of the child, a curfew or other measures.
The Bill emphasises the role of victims in relation to these conferences. For instance, where gardai are cautioning a child about his or her future behaviour, the victim will be invited to be present. The child will be made aware of the impact of the offence on the victim and will be invited to apologise and to make some recompense.
Courts will be able to order parents to do parenting courses or to undergo treatment for addiction. They can also order them to pay compensation and to control their children.
The reformatory and industrial schools will be renamed children detention schools. The ultimate sanction available to the courts will be to send a child to one of these schools. A school will be unable to refuse to accept a child offender and "must" be in a position at all times to accept such a child.
A special residential services board will monitor the work of the schools, and each school or group of schools will have a statutory board of management.
The offence of causing or procuring a child to beg, originally in the 1908 Act, is included again in the Bill but with the change that it will be up to the parent to show that he or she did not send the child out to beg.
The Bill allows a health board to keep a child in care under an interim care order for 28 days, instead of eight days as at present.
Mr O'Donoghue said the measures provided an exceptional opportunity to turn young persons away from crime.
The Bill was welcomed by Ms Roisin Shortall, the Labour Party spokeswoman on children and the family, but she warned that it would fail "unless the Government immediately provides a planned programme of investment in child welfare services".