Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 18 December 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Oberstown Children Detention Campus: Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

5:00 pm

Photo of Denise MitchellDenise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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The problem we have is our inability to scrutinise what gave rise to the recommendations. We are reading these recommendations, which have been published, and I would like the Minister's perspective on a few of them. Recommendation No. 79 states that a young person's clothes should only be removed in exceptional circumstances authorised by the director and that a dignified safe alternative should be provided. Prior to the report, was this happening? Is this a change of policy? Recommendation No. 82 gave rise to a lot of alarm when we saw it. The recommendation states that internal cavity searches of young people should never be undertaken unless authorised by a doctor for medical reasons. The Minister can understand why we are concerned. Was this happening? When did it happen? Is it still happening?