Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to the disparities between the Inspector of Prisons' report on St. Patrick's Institution, Dublin and the Visiting Committee Report of 2010; the location at which it is planned to accommodate 18 to 21 year olds, who would currently be residing in St. Patrick's Institution (detail supplied), after 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54640/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will know that for many years I expressed concerns about St. Patrick's Institution and believed it was an inappropriate facility for children. I was instrumental in ensuring that the programme for Government included a specific commitment to end the practice of sending children there. I visited St. Patrick's within two weeks of my appointment and I met the Inspector of Prisons at his request in early May last to discuss the matter with him.

I published the St. Patrick's visiting committee report for 2010 on 18 November 2011. As stated in its report for that year, the committee had met monthly and carried out some 48 random unannounced visits during the year. In that context, it reported on a number of issues and developments generally within the prison relating to accommodation, kitchen and gymnasium facilities, staffing, education, the library, workshops and facilities generally.

The inspector's report, which I published last October, raised serious issues and major concerns, including weak management, the behaviour of some prison staff, the culture in the prison, the inattention to human rights norms, prisoners on protection and the prevalence of drugs. The inspector concluded that there has been a culture in St Patrick's which resulted in the human rights of some prisoners - children and young adults - being either ignored or violated. The inspector also reported that the visiting committee appears to be carrying out its mandate under the relevant legislation and that its chairman had raised a number of issues with him.

An action plan is now in place implementing all of the inspector's recommendations, with more than 80% of the recommendations having been implemented to date.

I have yet to publish the visiting committee's annual report for 2011. In light of the inspector's report, I asked if the committee would consider the issues raised by the inspector and whether it would wish to comment on its contents in the context of its report for 2011. I will publish its report when I receive its response.

As the Deputy is aware, the Government committed in the programme for Government to ending the practice of sending children to St. Patrick's Institution. The practice of sending 16-year-old boys to St. Patrick’s ceased on 1 May 2012. From that date, all newly remanded or sentenced 16 year olds have been detained in the child detention facilities at Oberstown, Lusk, County Dublin. The detention of children at St. Patrick’s Institution will end with the provision of more appropriate accommodation and regimes in the new detention facility at Oberstown by mid-2014. Last week, the Government allocated €20.4 million in capital funding for 2013 to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to enable this project to proceed.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

In the interim, the Irish Prison Service is devising a specific strategy for the management of young offenders, working with its partners and other agencies to ensure that the regime for young offenders is age-appropriate and that best practice is observed. Central to this strategy is enhanced co-operation with the Irish Youth Justice Service, including the placement of a number of care staff from the child detention school to work alongside prison staff in St Patrick's. It is intended that this will take place in mid-January 2013. In addition, the feasibility of accommodating some categories of the 17-year-old age group in the child detention schools before mid-2014 is being actively examined.

As part of this strategy, the prison service will also review the overall approach taken to the placement of 18 to 21 year olds, in line with my intention to introduce primary legislation for the purpose of closing St. Patrick's Institution as a detention centre for persons aged 21 and under.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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The positive message from the Minister's reply is that he acknowledges what other reports, including the Whitaker report and the reports of the Ombudsman for Children, prison chaplains and the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, have highlighted since 1985, namely, that there is an appalling breach of the human rights of young people in St. Patrick's. What is the long-term plan to provide for those under the age of 21 there, of whom there are currently approximately 160, including 14 who are young women? International best practice indicates that those under 21 should not be detained in the same prisons as adults. The need for the immediate publication of reports has been highlighted and there should be no delay in their publication. That is my first point - that reports should be published in a timely way. My other question is whether the reports will go directly to the Oireachtas. There is an acknowledgement of wrongdoing on the part of the personnel in St. Patrick's, but there are also questions to be answered by the Department of Justice and Equality and the Irish Prison Service.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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It is my intention to introduce legislation, which is also referenced in the programme for Government, under which the visiting committee reports will be submitted directly to the Inspector of Prisons, and if members of visiting committees have concerns about any institution they visit during a year they will have direct contact with the Inspector of Prisons. Under the new legislation, it will be the inspector who publishes the visiting committee reports and engages in any follow-up that may be necessary.

A review group is currently reviewing prison policy issues. As the Deputy will be aware, the construction of a new wing of the Midlands Prison is being completed and there are plans to build a new prison in Cork. When the new wing of the Midlands Prison is open and the new facility is constructed in Oberstown, I intend to take steps to bring about further reform in respect of the 18 to 21 year olds at St. Patrick's Institution, how they are dealt with and where they will be located. There is an issue as to whether we should be locating all 18 to 21 year olds in one facility. I have concerns about the need for additional facilities for young people who are in prison in order that we do the maximum possible to encourage them to desist from reoffending when released from prison.

We have made enormous strides in the past 18 months in this area. It is very much a work in progress. Issues have been neglected for many years and they cannot all be addressed in 18 to 20 months, but we are making enormous progress. I believe that by the time the Government has completed its term we will have an entirely different prison policy and a different approach to dealing with young people who have to serve sentences.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I represent Dublin Central and we know about the revolving door syndrome and the incidence of repeat offences. We should be all on the same wavelength in encouraging rehabilitation and ensuring conditions in prison facilitate it rather than hinder it. Will the Minister engage with those civil society organisations who are involved in the prison and speak with former prisoners to get their views on this? The Minister mentioned the establishment of a comprehensive complaints system and I believe he suggested 2015 in that context, but in the meantime, we do not want to lose the generation of young people who are in St. Patrick's.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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New arrangements have already been established with regard to a complaints system. On the question of meeting former prisoners, in the preparation of his report on St. Patrick's Institution, the Inspector of Prisons not only visited the prison at various unexpected times of the day and night, including at weekends, but went to the trouble of meeting former prisoners from St. Patrick's Institution. The important and detailed report he produced was the result of 14 to 16 months of focused work and engagement by him. We should be grateful to him for the important work he has done. We rapidly set up an action plan to ensure that all issues addressed by him and all the recommendations made by him would be fully implemented, and that is the road we are travelling.