Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 December 2006
215 Mr. Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of young people below the age of 18 currently in detention in the State; the number in each adult prison; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42935/06]
Amharc ar fhreagraI would like to inform the Deputy that there are a number of legislative, operational and administrative changes under way which will see the transfer of responsibility for the detention of young offenders under 18 years of age, ordered to be detained by the Courts, from the Department of Education and Science and the Irish Prison Service to the Irish Youth Justice Service in my Department. The Irish Youth Justice Service has been established as an executive office of my Department and is to, inter alia, manage detention services for young people under the age of 18 years.
The net effect of these reforms to the detention services will be to end the practice of using adult prison places for the detention of children. It will also see the extension of the children detention school model to all offenders, male and female, under the age of 18 years. This will require the construction of children detention school places, with the requisite facilities to provide care and education, which can accommodate all 16 and 17 year olds ordered to be detained by the Courts. The legislation, once commenced, includes arrangements for the use of St. Patrick's Institution on an interim basis. To facilitate this, work is well underway in St. Patrick's Institution for the separation of the majority of those under the age of 18 years from the older age groups.
The transfer of the children detention schools, currently within the remit of the Department of Education and Science, to the Irish Youth Justice Service is intended to take place on the 1st of March, 2007. Currently the Irish Prison Service has responsibility for 16 and 17 year old children who have been ordered to be detained by the Courts. In practice the majority of young offenders being detained are male and are detained in St. Patrick's Institution, which is the designated detention centre for male offenders aged between 16 and 21 years of age. In addition, current legislation allows all prisons in the State to accommodate persons aged 17 years and over. The number and location of offenders, aged 16 and 17 years, in detention on 8 December, 2006, are set out in the following table.
|
Location |
Number |
|
St. Patrick’s Institution |
55 |
|
Cloverhill Prison |
2 |
|
Cork Prison |
6 |
|
Dóchas Centre, Mountjoy (Female) |
2 |
|
Total |
65 |
45 of those detained in custody (69%) were male young offenders aged 17 years. A further 18(28%) were male young offenders aged 16 years who were detained in St. Patrick's Institution. Female young offenders (2) in custody accounted for the remaining 3% of the total number of juveniles detained on that date.
I understand that my colleague the Minister for Education and Science will furnish the Deputy with information regarding the children detention schools currently under the remit of that Department.
