Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to this Bill. We finally get to speak on it after all the delayed starts over the past two days. The original principle underpinning the Children Act 2001 was that detention should always be a last resort for children. As society has evolved over recent years and the past decade, practices that were once acceptable are no longer acceptable. I welcome the Minister's finishing up with the remark that this is about ensuring there is a child care model in detention centres for children under 18.

I welcome the fact the main purpose of this proposed legislation is to enable the amalgamation of the three children detention schools - Trinity House, Oberstown Boys School and Oberstown Girls School - into one central campus, namely, Oberstown, and to provide for the necessary legal changes required to end the detention of children in adult detention facilities. That is very important, worthwhile and right. I acknowledge the work this Government has done in bringing this to where we are today. Responsibility for 16 year old boys was transferred from the Irish Prison Service to the children detention facilities in Oberstown in May 2012. Boys aged 17 and remanded in custody to St. Patrick's Institution remained the responsibility of the Irish Prison Service pending the completion of the building project at the children's detention facilities at Oberstown and the preparation of the necessary legal instruments to transfer responsibility for this category of offender to Oberstown. The Oberstown campus commenced taking 17 year old males, newly remanded in custody, since Monday, 30 March 2015, which is another positive development.

We welcome the further work that needs to be carried out for young offenders, including facilitating Red Cross training in Wheatfield Place of Detention, focusing on rehabilitative resettlement of young offenders under supervision and delivering victim empathy group programmes in both Wheatfield and the children detention schools. Much of this would not have been possible were it not for the success of the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Fitzgerald, in securing the necessary capital funding to build this new purpose-built facility back in 2012, which I acknowledge.

Before I get into the contents of the Bill, in his own address yesterday, the Minister made remarks in respect of a number of positive steps that have taken place to meet the programme for Government commitments. One of them was: "A first recruitment process for care staff to work in Oberstown was completed in 2014, and further recruitment steps are ongoing". Will the Minister, in his wrap up, elaborate further on this remark in terms of the number of staff that have been through the process and the timeframe for their recruitment? This is something which I find quite frustrating. It is not just now and it is not just this Government's fault, but the length of time it takes people to be hired in the public service is quite frustrating. Will the Minister confirm that we will always have the necessary staff in place to man these facilities?

The issue of remission is important in the context of a recent judgment. The Prisons Act 2007 provides for the remission of 20%, and up to one third, of a prisoner's sentence for good behaviour. This also applies to detention facilities in juvenile criminal justice systems, such as St. Patrick's Institution. No explicit provision was ever made in law for such remission at the children's detention school at Oberstown in County Dublin. In the case, the applicant maintained that the lack of remission at Oberstown amounted to a form of discrimination contrary to Article 40.1 of the Constitution, which states: "All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law." The case centred on whether young offenders detained at Oberstown were entitled to remission in the same fashion as other prisoners and young offenders who are detained at St. Patrick's Institution. The judgment stated that the failure to afford young offenders in Oberstown detention school with the benefit of statutory remission rules amounted to a plain breach of the constitutional command of equality before the law.

The Minister has taken that on board in this legislation. That will ensure equality of treatment between children in children's detention schools and adults in prisons. The Bill makes provision for remission in children's detention schools, incorporating a new disciplinary process and an appeals process where the sanction imposed is forfeiture of remission.

Regarding the provision relating to the period of detention imposed by the court, the Bill provides that a child who is convicted of an offence cannot receive a period of detention that would be greater than the period of imprisonment an adult could receive for the same offence. The Irish Penal Reform Trust commented that while it is noted that the purpose of the section is to give consideration to the principle of equality of treatment between children in detention schools and adults in the prison system, and given the importance of the principle that detention should be a last resort for children, the trust recommends that the provision be amended to reflect more closely the spirit and wording of section 96 of the Children Act 2001, which provides that where a child is convicted of an offence and a period of detention is imposed on the child by a court the period of detention shall not exceed the term of detention or imprisonment that the court could have imposed on a person of full age and capacity who is convicted of such an offence, and may be less. It also recommends that the court should have regard to the age, level of maturity, the best interests of the child and the principle of imprisonment as a last resort in determining the nature of any penalty involved.

Our focus should always be on the use of detention as the last resort. We should channel our resources and efforts into trying to keep children and teenagers away from a life of criminality and anti-social behaviour. When children and young adults get involved in the justice system it is sometimes very hard to disentangle them from it. When young offenders become involved in the justice system they are often on an irreversible spiral that sometimes ends in Mountjoy Prison. There is a need for greater inter-agency co-operation. I again plead with the Minister to prioritise the final implementation of the Children First legislation and make inter-agency co-operation mandatory.

We should not talk about sending children to detention facilities and holding children on remand without also focusing on the lack of supports that are currently available in terms of social workers. Many of our social workers are seriously overloaded with work. Often the children who end up in detention facilities come from marginalised parts of society and vulnerable backgrounds. They are children who do not get the supports they require to have a full and productive engagement in society. We have seen the reports from Tusla, the new agency charged with responsibility for supporting children in vulnerable situations, and heard its new chief executive officer speak about under-resourcing. Every child does not have a social worker or dedicated care plan. Without the required social workers and dedicated care plan, the child can embark on risky behaviour and often on a life of crime.

This legislation is extremely welcome with regard to amalgamating the services that are currently in place. I acknowledge the work the Government has done to bring Oberstown to the current standard. What was good enough one or two decades ago is no longer suitable. I also acknowledge its commitment to the provision of care for under 18 year olds in the detention facilities. However, the issue is to get things right before that and to keep children away from a life of crime. Children in the detention school system will often have experienced the care system, with many under HSE care at the time of their committal and some coming directly into the detention system from secure care. This is one of the most vulnerable groups of children in Ireland and many of the traumatic factors which led to the children being taken into care in the first place are also at the root of their offending behaviour. The children detention school system invests its resources in addressing the challenges and what can be extremely challenging behaviour of these young people.

We have a duty to support young people leaving detention in their efforts to desist from offending behaviour through the provision of after-care, safe housing and support and to ensure that they do not return to the chaotic conditions which gave rise to the offending behaviour in the first place. It could change their lives and lead in turn to safer communities for everybody. In accordance with international human rights standards and particularly in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, custody for children should only be used in the last resort and for the minimum required period of time. International law stipulates that all efforts should be made to apply alternatives to detention to ensure that such a measure is only used in exceptional circumstances.

We must ensure there are adequate supports in place for children who are in care and for children who are at the margins of society. Often that means they are living in families that are living in difficult areas in our communities. They are not getting the necessary supports, including social welfare supports, and educational opportunities, and their parents are not getting job opportunities. One of the best things we can do to lift people out of poverty is help parents back into the workforce. The challenge in that regard, however, particularly for women and low income families, is the high cost of child care. That is something the Minister must address. If he can support families in securing economic stability, he will help to prevent many children taking to a life of crime or engaging in anti-social behaviour.

With regard to the appeals procedure for sanction, this section provides that a child on whom a sanction was imposed may petition the Minister, within seven days of being informed of the finding and sanction, concerning the finding or sanction or both. The Minister can confirm, modify, suspend or revoke the sanction and will notify the child accordingly.

The Irish Penal Reform Trust makes the valid point that it is unclear why the petition should be to the Minister rather than a child-friendly independent tribunal - for example, the Ombudsman for Children. Perhaps the Minister could examine this as the Bill progresses through its various Stages in the Oireachtas. We will have an opportunity to table specific amendments. I hope the Minister will scrutinise them according to the spirit in which they will be tabled to try to improve the legislation. As I stated, we welcome the legislation and acknowledge the work done on it but there is still a lot more work to be done to ensure the detention is the very last resort for children.

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