The number of children who have been prosecuted for criminal offences has dropped by more than 40% over the past 10 years.

New figures also show 61 children have faced court action over sexual offences since 2017.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has released these details on juvenile offences to Newstalk under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

The statistics relate to the main charge the suspect faced, so do not include multiple charges.

In 2009, 601 cases were directed for prosecution where the suspect was under 18.

This dropped to 354 last year - and 342 so far in 2019.

Suspects under the age of 18 by categorisation of primary charge | Source: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions

Ian Power, from youth organisation SpunOut.ie, has welcomed the trend.

"I think it's really encouraging to see the trend of young people being prosecuted reducing by such a magnitude.

"I think it confirms what we know: that both the Garda Youth Diversion Project, and also the Garda Youth Diversion Projects that are happening around the country, are having the impact that we want them to have".

Over the past three years, 1,042 children have faced prosecution.

Sixty-one of those cases relate to sexual offences, while 280 were over non-fatal offences and assaults.

Sixty-three children have faced court action for possessing a firearm or offensive weapon since 2017.