Maire Devine (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for attending the committee and her report on Oberstown. The mental health and well-being of the children at the campus is, obviously, a high priority. What percentage of the children there come from backgrounds which are the most deprived according to the national deprivation index? I imagine it is extremely high, which makes their mental health needs more complicated with more demands. What happens when there is a diagnosis of mental illness and how is it dealt with on the campus?

Is the bail supervision scheme for the Dublin Children's Court to be extended to Cork? How many have availed of it since it was launched? When we went to the campus last summer, we met the first child who was to avail of it. I hope he is doing well. I look forward to the interim data on it and the two-year evaluation and review of the scheme. Has the Minister an update on the scheme? Where are the children released to? I imagine the majority are released back home. Are there other services into which they can be released? What age bracket does the bail supervision scheme cover? What is the lowest age involved? How many times has the court used this option?

When we visited the campus, underneath the veneer, it was at times quite fraught. Some of us got to talk to the staff. There was a lot of disquiet. I accept that will happen in any place in the middle of change. Would it be possible for the Minister to talk to the staff again when she visits the campus next? They might be freer to discuss issues of the culture change and whether it has brought along the majority of staff. It makes for an extremely unhappy and dangerous place when staff do not feel ownership of a new culture or management system. I hope this has begun to heal at Oberstown. I suggest the Minister meets with the staff separately for feedback and to see how matters are progressing.