Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Thank you Deputy Rabbitte. I have a few questions myself. I visited Oberstown shortly after I was appointed Chairman of the committee. I should have done so long before because it is in my constituency. Having visited the facility for quite a number of hours there were a number of observations that I made in line with the witnesses' report. I visited before I read the report. I found it alarming that the State would invest such significant sums of money in a facility without adhering to the basic principles in other detention facilities albeit I accept entirely that we are talking about juveniles. However, the basic principles are the same.

One was fire safety. That was very clear and made very obvious to me when visiting. At the back of the building one passes a fire door with a notice that it is blocked closed. I am not sure 4 x 4 would justify how large this piece of wood was jamming it closed because the security on the door was compromised. Other basic principles like door sizes, frame sizes being all completely different, and locking systems being similar in my observation to domestic residences. I know from that visit that Oberstown management were pleased that they had co-operation from the Irish Prison Service in the provision of their locks. However, the fact that the State had expended so much money on a facility, and multiple elements within the same facility, without doing the basic research to me was not just shocking. I have no idea what they were thinking. I found that appalling not just that the witnesses had to go out and highlight the obvious.

The staff were put in a position whereby they could not guarantee the integrity of the building in which certain juveniles were being detained and-or assessed. That was an observation I wanted to get off my chest since I visited the facility some months ago.

My main question concerns the positives the witnesses have highlighted in the report in term of the response from staff and management in Oberstown. It is very clear, having visited the centre and seen, for example, the profiling research which has been completed or is underway, that the basic responses which are being implemented on foot of the report are positive.

Unfortunately, there are number of themes which I am aware the witnesses have been assessing for many years. Ms Boyle referred to it being a learning curve, but elements have been left unaddressed.

I refer to health, which is listed as an area of major non-compliance. I do not have a specific question because the report clearly highlights some of the issues. Can the witnesses tell me the most alarming elements and responses to them from Oberstown management in terms of the resolution to the highlighted sections?