Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 July 2016
888. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the degree to which juvenile offenders are adequately protected and segregated from other offenders; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24043/16]
View answerThe Oberstown Children Detention Campus, located at Oberstown, Lusk, Co. Dublin, currently provides a total of 54 detention places for young people ordered to be remanded or committed by the courts. This comprises 6 places for girls up to the age of 18 and 48 places for boys up to the age of 18 who are remanded in custody and up to the age of 17 for those serving a sentence of detention. Boys aged 17 who are serving a sentence of detention are currently detained in Wheatfield Place of Detention which comes under the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality. They are accommodated in a self-contained facility which is completely separate from adult prisoners. It is my aim to assign responsibility for 17 year old boys who are serving a sentence of detention to the Oberstown campus this year. This will end the practice of detaining children in adult prison facilities.
