Results 6,061-6,080 of 13,254 for speaker:Seán Sherlock

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: I mean from a personal responsibility point of view.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: And to embrace it. As a final question, I wish to ask about the methodology. Professors Hardwick and Goldson are both academics and most of us in this House are not, although we have interfaced with academics. Can the witnesses give us confidence that the methodology they used was in line with international best practice? I am not questioning their bona fides. There may be others who...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: I thank Professor Goldson.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: Professor Goldson made a point about the Minister's interaction in respect of the legal advice. I will go back and quote directly what the Minister said: I have indicated in terms of the legal advice as well as the experience of the board, the staff and my officials, that fair procedures were not followed. Therefore there is a lack of fairness there, which leads to the legal risks, which...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: Okay, so there is no reason from a legal standpoint for the report not to be published.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: To be helpful, the legal advice to the Minister is from the Attorney General's office and we do not have access to that legal advice in this House. Therefore, one can assume the representatives of Oberstown do not have access to that legal advice either. It would be contrary to the law. On that basis, my understanding is that the Minister has discretion, on the basis of the advice, as to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: This is a political domain, not a legal one. To reiterate the points made previously, we do not have sight of the report. However, we do have sight of the recommendations and take in good faith the statements made in respect of the implementation of those recommendations. What we find hard to reconcile is the non-publication of the report. I listened very carefully to Professor Kilkelly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: What was the nature of the independent advice given to the board? Could she be more specific about it? What was the nature of the interactions with the Minister or her officials regarding that independent advice? When the Minister appeared before us, she stated that she had been advised by the board that its decision not to publish the report of the operational review was not one it either...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: Could I ask Professor Kilkelly to hold it there? In light of that very statement, was an opportunity given to those individuals, or were discussions held with them with a view to interacting with the two eminent experts in respect of the content and language of the report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: That is not what I asked.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: There is a tendency sometimes in this House to go after people and witnesses. The dynamic of this committee has been such that it has been very patient on this issue. We seek to ensure witnesses' bona fides are respected. That is why we need very clear, succinct and simple language. My question was very simple. I want to know whether the individuals who might be implicated by virtue of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: I believe Professor Kilkelly used the word "property" in respect of the report.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: I am just quoting the professor and she may correct me if I am wrong. She said the report is the property of those who commissioned it. On that basis, who owns the report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: The board owns the report. If the board owns it, notwithstanding the issues of timing, the fact that the committee has demanded the publication of the report, and our interactions with the Minister, is there still scope and time, on the basis of the evidence of Professors Goldson and Hardwick in respect of their willingness to engage at all levels and with all stakeholders, to go over the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: Is there not a contradiction there? Professor Kilkelly is saying findings have been reached. Has she not accepted the findings and content of the report on the basis that she is implementing its recommendations?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: Arguably, then, the report is not a final report.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: I have a question before Professor Kilkelly concludes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: I will reinforce the point made by Deputy Clare Daly. Correspondence was made available on 13 November 2017 as a result of a freedom of information request. The board had received legal advice on 13 March 2017. The correspondence is from a principal officer, who I will not name, in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. It stated that the Department was of the view that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: The board decided not to go along with that suggestion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Oberstown Children Detention Campus Operational Review Report: Discussion (30 Jan 2019)

Seán Sherlock: I placed on record the contents of the Department's correspondence with Professor Kilkelly. By any interpretation, the Department was seeking to suggest further engagement with the staff and management to ensure that persons criticised in the report had been fairly heard. Notwithstanding the point that a finding had been made, which Professor Kilkelly made previously, there was still scope...