Committee on Justice: With its proposed amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill the Government is introducing measures that will complicate and weaken the Children Act rather than fully implementing it, according to the Irish Youth Justice Alliance (IYJA).

Jillian van Turnhout, chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, a group which brings together 80 NGOs concerned with children, was addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Justice on behalf of the IYJA.

"Rather than ensuring the coherence of the youth justice system, the Government's proposals will bring about unnecessary intervention in the lives of young people, particularly those who have committed anti-social rather than criminal behaviour.

"We question whether there is sufficient capacity within the system to ensure the full implementation of the Act, let alone the additional measures proposed."

Among the proposed amendments that affect the Children Act is that seeking to reduce the age of criminal responsibility for serious crime from 12 years to 10.

"We ask you to consider what will be achieved by bringing a child of 10 years to court, detaining him/her with older teenagers without treatment, therapy or re-education?"

She said the amendments would also undermine the Garda Diversion Programme, which had an 87 per cent success rate. A feature of this programme was that a child accepted responsibility for his or her behaviour, and they were guaranteed it would not be held against them.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said the new provision giving superintendents the power to issue search warrants in some situations may be open to abuse.

"It is the view of the ICCL that the Garda and criminal justice system in general are severely underfunded, and that the measures proposed by the Minister for Justice are cosmetic and are not justified with reference to appropriate research."