Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Logan for her presentation. The work her office completes every week is invaluable to everyone who needs an advocate. I congratulate her on a wonderful job and thank for her attending this meeting.

I agree that there are major issues at Oberstown. The lack of finances and the industrial relations disputes that are affecting bed capacity need to be addressed and are not excuses, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the personal treatment of those at Oberstown is not up to scratch. Many workers in the sector are on stress leave, but are there underlying causes for this treatment of young people that we have not discussed or that are being discussed behind closed doors?

The penalty for committing a crime is the removal of liberty. This does not mean that we should cut young people's ankles off everyday to remind them of what they have done. The purpose of a rehabilitation system is to encourage, rehabilitate and educate and to remove the obstacles that caused young people and adults to go down a particular path in the first place, but this purpose is not being met. We are inflicting a situation on young people that makes them more bitter and full of angst. This situation has not arisen simply because six beds are not open or people are stressed. What are we doing wrong and what must we do to fix it?