The other side of the coin, however, has been highlighted by an internal review of the Garda Youth Diversion Programme, which found almost 3,500 juveniles responsible for almost 7,900 crimes over an eight-year period starting in 2010 escaped prosecution, which in turn means 2,500 individual victims and some 990 businesses were robbed of justice.

That most of the crimes have been rated as minor — such as public order and theft — offers only cold comfort to victims. That 55 included sexual offences, violent disorder, robbery, and burglary gives victims the right to ask extremely serious questions of the police, the courts, and the Government:

Is the judicial system on our side? Why did it let us down?

The Garda’s handling of this appalling lapse in the operation of a programme designed to keep at-risk juveniles out of trouble and the criminal courts has been commendably open, identifying shortcomings in training and problems around awareness of the process and oversight.

But that it was a procedural problem, simply a glitch in the works rather than a sustained experiment in suspending moral judgements, is scant consolation to the victims, and unlikely to boost public confidence in our judicial system.

The letters of explanation and apology being sent to victims — who are also being given victim information booklets — will be seen, not unjustly, as too little far too late.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties comments, fairly, that while IT and administrative problems were in part to blame, there should also be consequences for individual failings in managing the system.

The review, unsurprisingly, found that that most of the 3,489 children who ought to have faced prosecution but didn’t, led chaotic lives and had a history of reoffending, and that most of the cases were in very busy police divisions, the suggestion being that the failings were in part down to resources rather than judgements.

But the lesson taken by the offenders, and their friends, was a grim one for our society: We got away with it.