asked the Minister for Justice the steps being taken by his Department to provide for cases in which young people who, having appeared before the Children's Court, Dublin, are remanded on bail, find themselves without accommodation and may be easy prey for criminal elements in the city.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Young People on Bail.
74.
Persons who are remanded on bail are free members of the community. If, exceptionally, a person on bail is in need of accommodation, his position is similar to that of others in need of accommodation. Accordingly, the question of accommodation for any person on bail who may need accommodation is not one for my Department but for the agencies concerned in the ordinary way with the provision of accommodation for persons in need of it. This might be a matter of housing for an entire family or temporary accommodation in a residential institution of some kind for the particular person immediately concerned.
While the question relates to young persons on bail, perhaps I may add for information that, even in relation to persons sentenced by the court, my Department are not responsible for the provision of residential or custodial institutions for young persons under the age of 16 years.
Is the Minister aware that a district justice recently told two young boys that there was nowhere for them to go and the boys had to return to the streets? Anything could happen to those boys. No Government can wash their hands of this problem in the city. I would appeal to the Minister at least to get in touch with the Minister for Education to see if accommodation cannot be provided for children on bail and not to have them turned loose in the city. If they do not do that, children should not be charged and dragged before courts and then turned out on the streets with nowhere to sleep, and possibly set fire to a bookstore.
As I indicated in my reply, when a person is remanded on bail he is a free member of the community and the question of his accommodation is not for me but for the agencies within the community who provide accommodation for such unfortunate people. I would go further and say that the type of person to whom Deputy Moore referred and with whom I have sympathy—I am well aware of the size of the problem —does not come within the scope of the Department. That is not to say that the problem is being ignored. It is being dealt with by a task force which is co-ordinating all the Departments involved in this problem of providing somewhere for this type of young person. I can assure the Deputy that I and my colleagues in the Government share his concern to have this problem solved.
I do not doubt the Minister's concern, but what are we doing about it? A district justice can say to those boys : "I am sorry, I must let you out of the court but there is nothing more I can do for you."
Once they are on bail, that is the end as far as my Department are concerned. They are free citizens and we are not entitled to place them anywhere.
They are free to starve or to fall into the hands of the wolves.
The court has said that until they come back to the court they are free citizens.
While the Minister's statement may be legally accurate, has he got some liaison officer in the court who would even suggest that the child could be taken care of by, say, Fr. Sweetman or somebody else who involves himself in that kind of activity?
There are welfare officers attached to all the courts, part of whose duty would be to deal with problems concerning the welfare of people coming before the courts, and the question of accommodation would, of course, come into that domain.
May we take it, then, that there is no possibility of any such case being heard or any such person being brought before the court when such an officer would not be there?
It might be possible that a welfare officer might not be there at a particular time. That could happen.