Ms Saoirse Brady:

If we are thinking about what the State invests in, then we need to do that. Oberstown is a place of detention and has an issue with recruiting and retaining people. It is also in the middle of nowhere, so it is difficult to get there. There are people who travel hours to get to work in Oberstown. We have a social care and social worker deficit in the State, so we need to look at other availabilities. With the bail supervision scheme, it is not just those two disciplines. You are talking about other types of therapists who might also be involved in it. It could be easier to staff that than it is to staff Oberstown at the moment.

The other point I was going to make is we are talking about that age of under 14. You cannot access youth work or a youth work service if you are under 12. We are treating the same children very differently depending on their behaviour. At present, a child as young as eight can access youth diversion. That is stigmatising and I have said as much to the youth diversion project conference last year, which I am sure did not go down well. I know the projects are trying their best for those young people-----