Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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I appreciate the presence of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government but I am a little concerned that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, is not taking this matter and I would like to hear his views. I hope Deputy Gormley will engage with some of the questions I am posing and respond to them and not just read a prepared script.

We are all aware of the growing problem of juvenile crime and of the many communities which are plagued by anti-social activities some of which can be very serious and is often engaged in by people under the age of 18 as well as over the age of 18. Yesterday in this House my party leader, Deputy Gilmore, raised the issue of the closure of the Shanganagh facility and called for it to be reopened, given the demand that exists for places. It is very frustrating for public representatives, gardaí and communities that there is an insufficient number of detention places for young offenders. Many of us are familiar with the situation in which one is aware of particular individuals in our communities who are wreaking havoc on their neighbours and against whom there may be dozens of charges yet they are left to strut around their communities because the justice system cannot accommodate them.

Against this background it is of particular concern that there are plans to close the excellent facility of the Finglas Child and Adolescent Centre. Over the past 37 years this centre has provided excellent service to the courts, the youth justice service and previously to the Department of Education and Science in the area of child care and assessments. One has to ask what is being put in its place.

The centre has at times looked after very disturbed children who could not be cared for by any other statutory agency. Its record is outstanding and has been complimented many times by the Judiciary. It was inspected by the social service inspectorate of HIQA and received glowing reports as one of the best run detention schools in the country, having managed to achieve the correct balance of detention and child care.

The report of the working group appointed by the Irish Youth Justice Service recommends that further work be carried out over the next three years until the new development at Oberstown is complete to identify and develop the appropriate range of assessment services for detained children in the new facility at Oberstown and for all other young people, offending or non-offending, in the community. It also recommends that the Finglas centre will need to continue in operation until such time as the remand, assessment and committal services currently provided there can be provided at Oberstown.

What plans are in place for the orderly transfer of the services of the Finglas Child and Adolescent Centre to the Oberstown campus, which now appears to be imminent? Under the present management of the director, Colette Walsh, the staff of the Finglas centre are recognised as some to the best qualified to care and assess children. The report of the working group states:

The Working Group recognises that the staff in FCAC have a wealth of experience and expertise in child care, managing behavioural problems, delivering offending behaviour programmes and in particular, in carrying out assessments. They represent a significant number of well trained and well qualified people in whom the State have invested heavily and who have invested their time and commitment in working with challenging and difficult young people. It is vital that the youth justice and child care services do not lose this expertise.

How then does the Minister hope to keep this staff in the service, as recommended by the working group? There are currently 21 staff with fixed term contacts. Are these contracts to be renewed on 30 September 2009? Will all the current full-time staff be accommodated on the Oberstown campus? Are there arrangements to allow current full-time staff to avail of early retirement so the people on short-term contracts can take up those posts and the expertise will not be lost? In the area of child care, are the children on assessment to be accommodated separately on the Oberstown campus, as required by law and best practice and as recommended by the working group? Will the Minister say how many child care places for young offenders will be available in the State? The indications are that there are currently only about 50 places while the recommended number is 167. These are critical issues for tackling crime which both the Minister and I experience in our constituencies. Unless we have the accommodation to provide adequate assessment and remand places for young offenders we will lose the battle against crime.

I would welcome the Minister's replies to those questions.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I thank Deputy Shortall for raising this issue. I am not the Minister with responsibility for this area so I will read a prepared script. I hope it goes some way to answering some of the questions she has raised.

The future of the children detention school located in Finglas cannot be divorced from the future development of children detention schools services generally. The Irish Youth Justice Service, IYJS, which is an executive office of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and part of the office of the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, operates the four children detention schools. Three of the schools, Trinity House, Oberstown Boys and Oberstown Girls, are sited on a 65 acre site in Lusk, County Dublin, and the fourth detention school, the Finglas Child and Adolescent Centre, is located on a separate site in Finglas, Dublin 11. The four detention schools have a capacity for 77 children and currently have 38 places occupied. There are also approximately 60 boys aged between 16 and 18 years of age currently detained in St. Patrick's Institution, a centre for young offenders aged 16 to 21, within the Mountjoy Prison complex.

In March 2008, the Government considered the report of a cross-Departmental expert group on the future development of children detention services. The Government approved the recommendation of this group to develop new national integrated children detention facilities on the campus at Oberstown, Lusk, in order to facilitate the expansion of the detention school model to 16/17 year old boys, who are currently held in St Patrick's Institution. The Government also approved the establishment of a working group to consider the future of the site and the future role for the Finglas Child and Adolescent Centre, FCAC. This group was established with representatives from Departments and agencies with responsibility for the provision of services for offending children and vulnerable children in the welfare and justice systems.

The working group completed its work and presented its report to the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs. The Minister of State has decided to accept the group's recommendations, including the following:

The planned new children detention school development at Oberstown will provide remand, assessment and detention services for all young offenders, boys and girls, under 18 years of age. It will provide all of the services currently provided by the FCAC.

The working group is of the view that the experience and skills of the FCAC staff will form a necessary part of the integrated detention school in Oberstown and recommends that the staff and services in FCAC transfer to the new development.

The development of FCAC as a hybrid facility for both care and offending young people would not be permissible under law and would not address any gap in services.

The working group does not see a continuing stand-alone role for residential assessments at the FCAC.

The buildings on the FCAC site are not suitable for long-term use as children's detention facilities. They would require significant mechanical, electrical and structural work simply to be maintained, even in the short-term, for any purpose. The estimated costs for replacement of the buildings, which would be required for any long-term facilities, are prohibitively high. The working group does not see a long-term use in the area of children's detention services for the site and recommends that the site be returned to the OPW to determine its appropriate future use.

The boards of management, director and staff were informed of the decision. Discussions are ongoing with staff and their representatives to implement the decision and to facilitate a smooth transition. The Minister of State is mindful of the need to finalise future plans as this will have implications for the staff currently employed there. The matter has been referred by the staff unions to the Labour Relations Commission and discussions took place there today.

The IYJS is responsible for providing safe and secure accommodation for children detained by the courts. The Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs is satisfied that IYJS will be in a position to provide sufficient places within the existing detention school facilities to meet the needs of the courts for the detention of young offenders and, where appropriate, assessment.