asked the Minister for Education the present position regarding Daingean Reformatory, County Offaly; by whom the reformatory buildings are owned; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
60.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Daingean Reformatory.
59.
asked the Minister for Education where boys at present being detained in Daingean Reformatory, County Offaly will be transferred; and when the reformatory will be closed.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 59 and 60 together.
Daingean Reformatory is the property of the Minister for Finance. It is being replaced by a new training school at Oberstown, in North County Dublin, at present in the course of construction. This school is expected to be completed and in operation early next year. The reformatory at Daingean will then be closed.
Is the Minister aware that the Kennedy Report recommended that rather than establishing institutions to deal with young offenders it would be better to establish a continuous system of group homes, that this system operates in Northern Ireland and in England and is a better system than institutionalisation?
We are concerning ourselves in relation to group homes in the orphanages and industrial schools.
How successful are you being?
As I mentioned to the Deputy recently, we have begun building and in some instances the schools themselves divided up into a number of separate apartments.
Question No. 61.
Would the Minister ensure that when Oberstown House is in operation children of the same family will not be separated?
That is a different matter altogether.
It is not, really. It is another of the recommendations.
That recommendation would not refer to a place like Oberstown.