Written Answers. - Lusk (Dublin) Detention Centre.
Michael Bell
Ceist:
21
Mr. Bell
asked the
Minister for Education
if there are any plans in his Department to deal with the situation as stated by a District Justice (details supplied) whereby Oberstown House Detention Centre in Lusk, County Dublin is an unsafe place for the detention of young boys; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I presume the Deputy is referring to comments attributed to a District Justice in the Evening Herald on 31 October 1991.
The centre in question is Oberstown Boys Centre which was opened on 30 September 1991, and currently has authority to hold ten boys on remand and a further four boys on long term detention.
This centre is not intended to operate as a secure facility in the sense in which, for example, Trinity House provides secure accommodation. Rather, it offers a less restrictive regime for those young offenders for whom the more secure arrangements of Trinity House are not considered necessary. It is important that this varied level of response be available to meet the particular needs of the boys involved.
The incidents referred to were confined to the remand unit in Oberstown Boys Centre and thus only involved boys who were awaiting sentence by the courts. It is unfortunately a recognised feature of the remand situation that such boys display a particular level of hostility towards the system. However, once the remand period is completed and decisions on the boys' future have been taken, the experience is that earlier aggressive behaviour tends not to be repeated to the same extent.
It is the view of management at the centre that the incidents referred to were not motivated by a desire to abscond but rather constituted a pre-meditated attempt to inflict maximum damage on the centre and to test the response of staff to this situation. As the incidents mentioned were contained within the remand unit, the absence of a fence around the centre is not considered to be a relevant issue.
While it is regrettable that such incidents take place, it must also be recognised that the nature of the problem being addressed by the centres is such that difficulties of this nature cannot be entirely removed.
I will of course be keeping the operation of Oberstown Boys Centre under constant review to ensure that it is in a position to fully meet the demands being placed upon it.
I would also like to take this opportunity to compliment the staff at the centre on their professionalism in dealing with these difficult situations.
