The Policing Authority is due to hold a special public meeting next week to discuss concerns regarding Garda failures to prosecute serious juvenile offenders.

The meeting will examine a lengthy internal Garda investigation into the Juvenile Diversion Programme.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris told the authority last November he had ordered an external review of the internal report.

Last June, senior gardaí said initial internal investigations had identified almost 13,000 cases between 2010 and 2017 where they could not find that any action had been taken against juveniles who had been deemed unsuitable for the juvenile diversion programme.

This programme diverts children between 12 and up to 18 away from the criminal justice system.

Children who are deemed as unsuitable are referred back to local district officers who are then supposed to consider a criminal prosecution or the submission of a file to the DPP.

Gardaí have said that as well as the “significant risk” involved in failing to pursue lawful sanction for crimes, there was the additional prospect that the juveniles concerned went on to commit further offences, resulting in more victims.

Authority chair Josephine Feehily said at the June meeting that this meant that while young people who accepted their crimes were admitted to the diversion programme those who were unsuitable “got away with it”.

Authority member Judith Gillespie said the issue was of “considerable concern” and asked him that “without prejudice to any criminal or misconduct issues” could he reassure the public the problem could not continue.

Mr Harris said that because of changes to the Garda Pulse computer database there had been “no reoccurrence” in 2018 and it had tailed off in 2017.

He said the review flagged up “organisation or systemic failure” in that changes in the work process probably hadn’t been subject to the “explanation, training and supervision” required.

He said that before he went near anything around “individuals and disciplinary issues” he wanted to establish what had happened.

The Policing Authority published its Review of 2018 yesterday.

Speaking on Newstalk and RTE, Ms Feehily said proper Garda data was very important.

She said the authority was continuing to examine the Garda’s review of 41 homicide investigations to determine if they were properly classified and investigated.

He said the review was halfway through and that the authority had concerns about the investigations in two of the 24 so far examined. But she said the deficiencies did not appear “to have impacted” the outcome of the investigations.

She said they related to delays in taking witness statements, protecting the chain of evidence and not recording reasons for decisions. She said they were happy with the thoroughness of the garda review.

Ms Feehily said the origins of this review was that domestic violence-related homicides had not received the level of policing attention they had deserved.

She said the issue of domestic violence was something the authority would definitely be looking at this year, noting the two murders of women already in 2019.

Six new units for sexual/domestic crime

Six new divisional units specialising in the investigation of sexual and domestic crimes have been set up, Garda HQ has announced.

The Protective Services Units have been established in Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) South Central, Kerry, Kilkenny, Galway, Waterford and Limerick. Garda HQ said the units had gone “live”, but added that training for personnel attached to each unit had started in the Garda College last Monday.

Four units had already been established in the DMR West areas of Cabra and Clondalkin, Cork, and Louth.

Units will begin work in the remaining 19 divisions in 2019.

The Garda statement said the units are part of the 2016 Garda Modernisation and Renewal Programme and would deliver a consistent and professional approach to the investigation of sexual crime, child abuse and domestic violence.

The units also cover human trafficking, organised prostitution and missing-person cases.

Detective Chief Superintendent Declan Daly, Garda National Protective Services, said: “The continued expansion of the DPSU project will ensure a consistent level of service by An Garda Síochána to the victims of sexual crime and domestic abuse. They are a welcome and valuable addition to Garda divisions and will add to the service.”