Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 8, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following:“(a) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2):

“(2A) The maximum total period that a child may spend remanded in custody is three months from the date of being remanded in custody by the Court.”,”.

I will be very brief. I hope we can meet our deadline of 12 noon. We will all strive for that. To my mind, this is one of the most important of the amendments that I have tabled. Its purpose is to limit the amount of time children spend on remand. The Irish Penal Reform Trust, IPRT, has highlighted the general issue of remand, and that it should not be more than six months, but in the case of children it should be limited to a period of three months and, ideally, they should not be remanded at all. The change is necessary because three months is a substantial amount of time in a child’s lifespan. The figures are available on the number of children who were detained, who were on remand and who ended up getting a conviction. We have highlighted them previously. We must factor that in as well. I will not go through the list of human rights organisations that support the amendment but it is necessary and we should accept it.