Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I very much support the Children (Amendment) Bill 2015.

It is a serious flaw in society and a breach of human rights for young offenders to be detained with adults in an adult prison. That is why it was recognised that at St. Patrick's Institution, young offenders were in undesirable conditions. Reports have cited the use of force on the boys housed at St. Patrick's. They were stripped, heavily punished, bullied, intimidated and denied family visits by some staff.

In 2012, the Government promised to put an end to detention of under-18s in St. Patrick's and finally this is now coming to fruition with the amalgamation of the three children's detention school facilities on the Oberstown campus in Lusk, and the deletion of provisions and remand of children in adult facilities. I very much welcome this as a very positive step forward.

It is amazing that this issue was not addressed during the Celtic tiger when the country was awash with money. This certainly was far more important than the likes of the Bertie bowl, which seemed to be of high importance to the then Government. I am sure everyone here would concur with me that placing young offenders in adult prisons was no way to handle the problem, but unfortunately not enough other facilities were available.

I was listening to the radio during the week and tuned in to the tail end of a conversation about young offenders. The man who was being interviewed - unfortunately, I did not get his name, not that I would be allowed to mention it in the House anyway - said that two thirds of young offenders leaving prison re-offend. The reason he gave was that while in prison they looked up to and were influenced by the older, more hardened prisoners and wanted to impress them and therefore offended again when released.

Youth crime constitutes 15% of all crime according to the Irish Youth Justice Service, IYJS. It is best practice that detained children be engaged in education. It is their right to be educated and a young offender's misconduct should not disqualify him or her from this right. Detained young offenders are best in remand centres where education is provided along with the tools to learn new skills. The rehabilitation of these young offenders should be given foremost attention. The proper education and rehabilitation will ensure that on discharge, these young people will not be the victims of social exclusion. It will hopefully mean that they will go on to live fulfilling lives and integrate well with society without their past being a stumbling block.

Deirdre Malone, executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, pointed out that adult prisons are completely unsuitable for the particular needs of young offenders, a sentiment that was echoed by the new Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, who stated that rehabilitation must be a paramount consideration in the detention of young people.

There will always be a percentage of young offenders who will go on to offend time and time again. Nevertheless, we must strive to ensure that young people under the age of 18 for whom detention is a necessity get the best possible chance of rehabilitation and education while in detention. This hopefully will have a positive influence on them and will be the incentive they need to re-enter society and deter them from a life of crime. I welcome the provision that those who reach the age of 18 while in detention may remain in Oberstown if they are engaged in a certain education programme and if their remaining detention period is less than six months. This will avoid the necessity for them to transfer to adult facilities.

As we speak, the Minister for Justice and Equality is launching a new programme. The Kerry Diocesan Youth Service, KDYS, along with the local gardaí, recognised a need to realign the Garda youth diversion response to youth crime based on national youth crime statistics. Supported by the Irish Youth Justice Service and the Garda, the Kerry Realignment Pilot Project, KRPP, was initiated. Previously, the Kerry Diocesan Youth Service, in partnership with An Garda Síochána and the Irish Youth Justice Service, operated six separate projects all geographically tied to specific areas in County Kerry. The projects had no remit to operate outside these areas. However, since 1 June 2013, the projects are no longer tied to one specific area but have the capacity to engage young people in need of youth diversion provision from the entire Kerry Garda division area. The organisations now have the capacity to realign workers to where a need is identified. The Kerry service is the first of its kind in the country and highlights the benefits of different organisations working together to benefit young people. During the pilot phase they have supported over 700 young people with 101 of those receiving a service. This is an example of what can be done for young offenders in their locality by organisations working together to help them get back on the straight and narrow and avoid detention periods.

In respect of the youth justice action plan 2014 to 2018, could the Minister tell the House if this is adequately funded, how it is working and if there is feedback on it to date? The problem is that we always seem to fire-fighting in this country. We need to stop and examine the reason the fires break out in the first place, be it the lack of youth facilities, the lack of youth mental health facilities, or reductions in funding to provide these services. Of course, every organisation in this country underwent funding cuts and the youth services were no exception. However, although many like the Kerry Diocesan Youth Service made the most of what they had and continued to provide services for the youth, they simply cannot continue without adequate funding and cannot sustain any further cuts.

I know many people will say there is nothing for the youth to do but to go into the pubs and nightclubs and therefore be subject to the enticement to drink. This is where I would commend the work of the youth services and indeed the GAA and other sporting bodies on the work and time they put into youth activities. The KDYS has a fantastic youth initiative called the mobile youth cafe which visits towns all over County Kerry. These initiatives are invaluable and I commend the thousands of volunteers who work with youth programmes all over the country.

I hope some day some Minister will be able to enact section 12 and close down detention school facilities due to the lack of youths in detention.