Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The first point to be made is that the funding is in place. This is the first time any government has put funding aside in order to develop a new detention facility and take children out of St. Patrick's. There is no 16 year old child in St. Patrick's now. The Government has taken 16 year olds out of St. Patrick's and has made an announcement with regard to 17 year olds.

I compliment the staff in Oberstown on the way they have dealt with the 16 year olds who have been and are there. There is an increase in referrals from the courts. When 16 year olds were in St. Patrick's the average number of them was ten. We now have 17 detainees aged 16 in Oberstown and, as mentioned, we have been asked for beds there on a number of occasions but these have not been available. At the end of 2012, there were 203 whole-time equivalent staff in place in Oberstown. Sanction has been received to recruit a campus manager and this will support the overall development of a fully integrated single campus. We expect to fill this position in the coming months.

We have taken a situation where there were three units without a single overall management and where there was no movement of staff between the three units and have introduced a new rostering arrangement. It was expected the new rostering arrangement would create six to eight beds, but for various reasons these are still not available.

As we speak, a number of solutions are being developed with the staff to ensure that those six to eight extra beds will become available as soon as possible.

Young people move in and out of the facility all the time. There is a 24-hour response, so whenever a bed is available, it is used immediately and there is no delay whatsoever. I will approach the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in respect of funding for some extra staff in the interim, because a number of staff have been out on sick leave for some time and that is putting pressure on the system in respect of the rostering arrangements. We will have to move to a permanent solution to get extra staff in place in Oberstown. We have already got sanction for extra staff for next year, once the facility becomes available. The contracts are always financially sensitive, so I cannot say anything about that at the moment, but planning permission and all steps necessary to ensure that construction will begin shortly are all under way and have all-----