asked the Minister for Education if he is aware that there is no provision for spiritual assistance for boys who are on remand at Marlborough House; that the boys are marched to the nearest church on Sundays for Mass; that during their period of detention, they do not have an opportunity of receiving the Sacraments; and that there is no segregation in respect of age or gravity of offence; and, if so, whether he will arrange to have an oratory provided at the house of detention and a chaplain appointed, who will make daily visits there, and whether plans are being made for the erection of a new house of detention, as the present one is Dickensian.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Marlborough House.
It is not the case that there is no provision for spiritual assistance for boys who are on remand at the Place of Detention, Marlborough House. By arrangement with my Department a member of the Irish Christian Brothers, who has had long experience in dealing with troublesome boys, visits the institution twice a week. In addition to giving the boys religious instruction and spiritual advice, he sometimes supplies them with suitable reading material and acts as a sort of unofficial probation officer for boys who are temporarily detained in the place and not subsequently committed to an industrial school or reformatory.
It is true that the boys hear Mass on Sundays at a neighbouring church, the practice being for them all to attend together when the number is small, and to break them up into two batches when that arrangement is the more suitable. In regard to opportunity for receiving the Sacraments, careful inquiries are made in each case as to regularity in this matter and, where neglect is established, special arrangements are made to provide the necessary facilities.
Owing to the small number under detention at any one time, and to the shortness of the period of detention in the vast majority of cases, segregation in respect of age and gravity of offence would hardly seem to be necessary or to justify the consequential commitments as to accommodation and staffing.
The question of having an oratory provided and a chaplain appointed was explored by my Department some years ago and, again in view of the small number under detention which at times falls as low as three and does not on the average exceed ten, the matter was not proceeded with.
No plans are at present being made for the erection of a new house of detention.
Is the Minister aware that everybody connected with social work in the Dublin courts considers that the conditions in the detention home are undersirable and unsatisfactory?
That is quite possible.
Would the Minister examine the position with a view to providing a more suitable system?
The position is under review.