Ms Koulla Yiasouma:

I ask the Senator to bear in mind what I am about to say are my personal thoughts. They are not the views of Oberstown. We had an independent review of youth justice in Northern Ireland, which was chaired by John Graham. Mr. Graham was independent and he had two other colleagues, one of whom was an ex-commissioner in Scotland with a rights-based overview. One of the recommendations the group made was that all children should have their slate wiped clean when they reached 18. The recommendation never quite made it through, not so much because of murders - there are not many of them - but because the older kids, that is, the 17-and-a-half year olds who commit a serious crime. Is it right to wipe the slate clean six months after they have committed a heinous offence?

I am generally in favour of the slate being wiped clean-----