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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 9 Mar 2000

Vol. 516 No. 2

Other Questions. - Children Bill, 1999.

Emmet Stagg

Question:

7 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Education and Science the funding, if any, for his Department's role in the implementation of the Children Bill, 1999; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7230/00]

The fundamental objective of the Children Bill, 1999, is to achieve a major advance in the quality and efficiency of the State's response to children with special care needs and those coming into conflict with the law.

The Bill is based on the principle that the imposition of custodial sentences on children should be a matter of last resort. In support of this principle, the Bill provides for a comprehensive range of diversionary measures and non-custodial sanctions which may be availed of by the courts as an alternative to imposing custodial sentences. A key objective will be to ensure that appropriate early intervention takes place so that the child receives the assistance he or she requires before the difficulties become so serious as to warrant court intervention.

However, it is unfortunately the case that for some children the imposition of a custodial sentence will continue to be the required response. Under the Bill, the custodial facilities operated under my Department will be required to cater for all such children, including those who are deemed to be unruly or depraved and those who have serious psychiatric or behavioural difficulties. Up to now, the juvenile detention centres could apply to the courts to have children who were deemed to be unruly or depraved transferred to the adult prison system. It is also the case that the centres do not currently have the facilities or the specialist expertise required to cater for children with serious psychiatric or behavioural problems.

In order to meet its obligations under the Children Bill, my Department has embarked on a major five year development plan. This plan, which has an estimated overall cost of £21 million, envisages the development of an additional 24 places for young male offenders and an additional eight places for young female offenders. This extra provision is intended to meet the anticipated requirements of the courts for custodial places, including places for children requiring specialised support. The plan also involves a major refurbishment of some of the existing custodial facilities to ensure they meet the highest standards of care in a suitably secure environment.

The process of implementing the development plan is already under way. In 1999, a new pre-release unit capable of catering for up to eight young male offenders was opened at the Finglas Children's Centre. Expenditure on this development amounted to £360,000. In the current year, funding of £4.7 million has been made available to progress work on the development plan. Additional funding will be made available over the period of the plan to ensure its effective implementation in line with requirements arising under the Children Bill.

Is the Minister saying that only £4.7 million will be made available this year for the 32 additional places to be provided under the Bill? When will the 32 additional places be completed and will additional funding be made available for the provision of an inspectorate? How many of the 32 places will be detention places and how many will be remand places?

The expenditure in 1999 to provide places for eight young male offenders amounted to £360,000. In the current year, funding of £4.7 million has been made available to progress work on the development plan. Additional funding will be made available over the period of the plan to ensure its effective implementation in line with the requirements arising under the Bill. Major refurbishment work was carried out in 1999 at Lusk at a cost of £600,000. The £4.7 million will be used to provide the initial phase of construction on the proposed new facilities. It will be used to complete planning and design work, to commence the initial phase of construction on the proposed new facilities at Oberstown campus and the refurbishment of Finglas Children's Centre. The Oberstown campus currently houses Trinity House Reformatory School, Oberstown Boys' Centre and Oberstown Girls' Centre. This is where the additional work will be carried out. There will be phased replacement of the existing outdated facilities at St. Michael's Remand Centre in Finglas.

When will the 32 new places be completed and available and how many of them will be remand places?

I do not have the completion dates. I have the starting dates and the development work which is taking place. It is not possible to give the completion dates for these projects? However, I will send the information to the Deputy.

As part of the first phase of the plan a pre-release unit for eight young—

We have to proceed to Question No. 8.

How many remand places are there?

It is not broken down into the number of remand places. I will have to get that specific information for the Deputy.

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