asked the Minister for Education if he will give particulars of the centres in the Dublin area where girls on remand from the courts may be detained; and if any medical or psychological assessments are made of the girls at any of these centres.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Remand Centres.
30.
The centres in the Dublin area where girls on remand from the courts may be detained are: An Grianán, High Park, Drumcondra; the Training Centre, Seán McDermott Street; St. Anne's Special School, Kilmacud.
Medical and other assessment of the girls is made as the courts consider necessary.
May I ask the Parliamentary Secretary how it was that a girl aged 15 years, the mother of two children, was picked up from the streets in a drunken condition and was sent to Mountjoy Prison? Nobody examined the girl to determine her mental capacity and when somebody discovered her age she was taken from the prison. This is an indictment of the Department. If they will not do their job, will they give it over to an agency that will do the job in a proper way. In this society a young girl——
The Deputy may not embark on a speech. This is Question Time.
This matter deserves attention. In a glib answer the Department tell us there are schools to which such a girl may be sent and examined. Yet, how did it happen that a 15-year old girl, who should have been at school herself——
The Deputy did not raise this specific matter in his question.
I submit it is raised in the question.
The specific matter referred to by the Deputy is not mentioned in his question.
We have been told that there are centres in the Dublin area where examinations may be made but in this case that was not done.
The Deputy must desist. The specific matter he refers to is not mentioned in his question.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary at least give a guarantee that every young girl who is charged will be examined before being sent to prison?
Had the Deputy given notice of his intention to ask me a question about the matter he has now raised I would have endeavoured, if it were the responsibility of my Department, to get the information required. However, he did not give me notice of his intention to raise this case and I doubt his sincerity in raising it at this stage——
The Parliamentary Secretary doubts the sincerity of the Deputy?
I have indicated that where the court considers it necessary that an assessment, either medical or otherwise, be carried out——
On a point of order, is it permissible for the Parliamentary Secretary to insult a Deputy in this way?
I doubt if insult was intended.
I should like to point out to the Chair, with respect, that you have responsibility to protect Deputies from gratuitous insults. The Parliamentary Secretary offered what seemed to me without justification, a doubt as to Deputy Moore's sincerity in raising this matter.
In so far as the Deputy could have put down a particular question about that particular case. Instead he chose to raise it without notice to me on a question which was general in character and in relation to which I could not be expected to have the particular information which he sought.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary withdraw the insult?
With the permission of the Chair, I should like to raise the subject matter of this question on the Adjournment.
It could be election fever.
On the Deputy's side? I can understand that.
31.
asked the Minister for Education the alternative accommodation for boys on remand when the centre in Finglas, Dublin, is full.
The procedure in regard to the admission of boys to the remand and assessment unit at Finglas is that the courts usually make prior arrangements with the director of the centre to admit boys for whom they consider residential care is necessary during the remand/assessment process. On average, a boy does not have to wait more than a week for a vacancy at the unit. During this period the boy would be allowed home on remand to the care of his parents, a relative or other fit person.
Is it true that when the Finglas school is full a boy may be left on the street to go where he likes because there is nowhere else to send him?
The position is that at any given time there are about 24 places available and, usually, the centre in Finglas require about one week's notice of a boy wishing to be admitted. After a week they are usually able to find a place. I think one can say with certainty that there is an insufficient number of places available in the country and it is something which needs to be attended to.