Vol. 307 No. 14
asked the Minister for Justice the numbers of inmates of St. Patrick's Institution, North Circular Road, Dublin, released prematurely without completion of their sentence, due to the redesignation of Loughan House, County Cavan, and the fact that it may no longer be used for inmates of St. Patrick's.
72.
asked the Minister for Justice the plans or proposals he has in respect of a replacement centre or institution to be used by juveniles serving sentences in St. Patrick's Institution, Dublin, instead of Loughan House, County Cavan, which was used in the process of rehabilitation of the inmates of St. Patrick's Institution; and when such replacement proposals will take full effect.
: With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 71 and 72 together. From time to time pressure on the accommodation in any particular prison or juvenile institution may best be met by releasing certain categories of prisoners or juvenile detainees somewhat before the completion of their custodial sentences. The fact that some boys may be so released from St. Patrick's does not necessarily mean that they would have been transferred to an open centre if there was accommodation there. In fact all of the boys who were accommodated in Loughan House when it was being closed for renovations were transferred to the other open centre for juveniles, Shanganagh Castle, County Dublin.
I am hopeful that one effect of the new scheme for the intensive supervision of young offenders in the community, which is planned to come into operation by the end of the year and which, incidentally, will relieve the pressure on accommodation generally, will be that no boy who is likely to benefit from being in an open centre or, in the case of some of the older boys, in the Training Unit or in Arbour Hill—where facilities for industrial training have been developed —need remain in a conventional closed institution. There may be pressure on the accommodation in Shanganagh Castle from time to time until Loughan House reverts to being an open centre, but I hope that it will never be serious or prolonged.
