Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I stand in support of both amendments Nos. 15 and 19. I reiterate what I said on Second Stage about our commitment, as a Legislature, to the internationally and domestically recognised principle of detention as a last resort for children, both those committed to detention and detained on remand. As others have said, section 88(10) of the Children Act, as amended, stipulates that the court shall not retain a child in custody solely on the basis of care or protection concerns.

On Second Stage, I expressed my concerns about section 5 of the Bill which allows for part or all of a detention school to be designated a remand centre. I believe we are starting from a point of non-compliance with our international human rights obligations. I refer chiefly to 10(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights under which Ireland continues to maintain a reservation. The Minister will recall the concluding observations of the UN Human Rights Committee last July. It said Ireland "should establish a concrete timeline for the achievement of complete separation of remand and sentenced prisoners, juvenile and adult prisoners and detained immigrants and sentenced prisoners".

I fully support the recommendation of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, which others have stated and which is reflected in both amendments before us. At the very least, section 88(8), as amended, should be amended again to provide that remanded children should be kept separate from sentenced children where it is in the best interests of the child.

Article 42A of the Constitution and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was ratified by Ireland in 1992, deals with the best interests of the child. It is incumbent on us, as a Legislature, in the drafting of any Bill which impacts on a child's life, to ensure the best interests of the child are the paramount consideration, the views of the child are heard when key decisions are made about their lives and to take into account the evolving capacity of the child and ensure it is facilitated. Therefore, I support the amendments.