Vol. 439 No. 5
199 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Education the reason she has not appointed any representative from the local community to the board of Oberstown Boys' Centre, Lusk, County Dublin despite having the nominees names for 18 months; and when she intends to make this appointment.
200 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Education the reason she has not appointed any representative from the local community to the board of Trinity House, Lusk, County Dublin, despite having the nominees names for a considerable length of time; and when she intends to make this appointment.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 199 and 200 together.
As the Deputy will be aware, the management of centres for young offenders is a demanding and complex task which requires sensitivity and commitment as well as competence across the range of areas with which such establishments are required to deal. It is therefore very important that the composition of the Board of Management reflect these requirements.
It has traditionally been the policy of my Department to seek to include local community representatives on the boards of such centres and I am satisfied that where such appointments have been made, they have proved to be of positive benefit to the centre concerned.
In keeping with this practice, my Department formally invited Lusk Community Council to put forward nominations to both the boards in question in August, 1993.
