Ms Koulla Yiasouma:

I tried, when I was Commissioner for Children and Young People in Northern Ireland, to get every child to be an Arsenal supporter and I failed. I may try in Oberstown.

The progress Oberstown has made in the past decade, as has been recognised, has been quite remarkable. It is a matter of continuing with that and making sure that young people have the best care and that the centre is able to respond to the needs the young people bring at any given time. That is a matter of always being alive to the issues they have and what is going on for them. It is a matter of being able to implement all the recommendations of the latest HIQA inspection, which were not about the quality and level of care but more about the quality of record-keeping and recording of decisions. I would like to see that developed. There is also something in the HIQA report about staffing and staff feeling a little overworked, so it is a matter of making sure that staffing levels are healthy. As I said, one of the strategic objectives is that staff enjoy their work and feel safe and fulfilled in their work.

I referred when I answered a previous question to the outcomes. Oberstown is able to demonstrate the impact it makes in the lives of the young people it seeks to serve and that it helps them along that journey. Not only does it help individuals, however; it also uses the information and the insight it has to influence the broader system, as I have said. That is where I think the next phase is, but that is my thinking before I start. In six months, that will obviously be adapted. It is an iterative process so it will evolve.

As for spirituality, I have worked with young people involved with the criminal justice system since I qualified nearly 35 years ago and I feel that young people do have a value base. Sometimes the disconnect is in the sense of belonging. They also often feel like they belong in their communities but it is whether they have the connection to the broader world because the world others them because they are poor, because they come from that family, that school or that community, because they have that disability or whatever. I have seen young people who have made a connection with a religion, a sport, a talent, a piece of art or a job and I have seen the light come on for them and seen that spark, but that spark has always been there. I say this a lot about young people in these circumstances: they are the funniest and most resilient group of children I have ever come across. In my previous role, I met many children. I have never laughed as much as I have laughed with those kids. They have ambitions and hopes and they do know the difference between right and wrong; it is just that they are not always given the support to stay on the right side of the line. Yes, some people should have a spiritual life, and that should be open to them. I am not aware how that works in Oberstown. I will make it my business to find out. I am sure there are services that generally are in organisations and places like this. Young people have values; it is just a matter of being given the opportunity to follow them through and the luxury some of us were born with to be able to fulfil them.

I do not think that answers the question.

Our spiritual being is different for all of us. Our spiritual life is different for all of us and we find it in different ways. We need to be flexible to fulfil that for young people. For some, it will be religion; for many others, it will not. We need to be open to both.