Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 28 January 2016

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children

Oberstown Children Detention Campus: Chairperson Designate

9:30 am

Photo of Billy KelleherBilly Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish Professor Kilkelly well. It is always nice when somebody appears before the committee and one only has to casually peruse his or her curriculum vitae to realise the appointment is based on merit, expertise and ability. It is important to acknowledge that. We should move to a point where people being appointed to important positions in public administration have competency and expertise in those areas or at least are there for all the right reasons. That is very evident in the context of Professor Kilkelly's CV but also in her presentation.

Professor Kilkelly spoke about a rights based detention centre. In a way that creates its own challenges in the sense that many of the children in Oberstown are there because there has been a failure by their parents, guardians, society or the State and, therefore, there has been a trampling of their basic rights already.

We must move to a point where we talk about detention as not just a place where the children go to be detained but where some effort is made for rehabilitation and redress because these are mainly children who have been damaged for some other reasons and it is not always because of themselves. We must try to move to a situation where the full emphasis of these particular detention units is not only on detention but that there is a suite of measures and independent pathways in place because I assume every child who goes through Oberstown has individual needs and that it is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Does Oberstown have the capacity, working with other statutory and State agencies and organisations, to individualise care pathways for children who are in need?

On the other key area, Professor Kilkelly spoke about detention of children in adult prisons. We also have the other issue of detention of children in adult psychiatric wards. I assume there is often a crossover between children attending in Oberstown and perhaps being referred to psychiatric services elsewhere from time to time and then being detained in adult wards. When does Professor Kilkelly envisage that we will have a situation where all children will be detained or cared for in suitable environments? I am aware there is a construction phase in Oberstown and that it is advertising for staff but when does Professor Kilkelly believe that will come to an end as it is a basic infringement on their rights but is also in breach of various United Nations recommendations? Oberstown is embarking on a recruitment process but is that process slow because the expertise is not available or the finances are not available or is it a combination of both?

I wish Professor Kilkelly and the incoming board well. I thank her for her work in many fields. We have read her many publications over the years. It is important that when people with the expertise appear before us we should acknowledge that because if they were appearing before us without it, we would be very critical of it. My best wishes to Professor Kilkelly.

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