Ms Olivia Keaveney:

The spirit of the Children Act sets out that matters of welfare should not come within the realms of the courts or the criminal justice arena and should be dealt with in the appropriate forum. What we have found is that the number of young people going forward to Oberstown is decreasing, which signifies that the Act is effective. In terms of the conferencing that the Deputy has referenced, there is a number of such opportunities available under the Children Act. One is family conferencing which the court can order us to convene and then we bring back a particular plan to the court which can be accepted.