Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Aire agus ba mhaith liom a rá nach bhfuil Sinn Féin ag cur i gcoinne an Bhille seo ach an oiread. Sinn Féin is not opposed to the Bill. As the Minister stated, the main purpose of the legislation is to facilitate the complete closure of St. Patrick's Institution. It repeals statutory provisions that enable the courts to order the detention of offenders under the age of 21 years in St. Patrick's Institution and deletes references to "St. Patrick's Institution" in the Statute Book.

In part, the Bill owes its origins to a commitment given in the programme for Government to end the practice of sending children to St. Patrick's Institution. For decades, non-governmental organisations, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Irish Penal Reform Trust and a plethora of international organisations, including the United Nations, have called for the closure of St. Patrick's Institution and an end to the detention of children in adult prisons. Across the child protection and criminal justice spectrum, there is unanimous agreement on the importance and significance of ending the practice of detaining children in adult prisons. For example, the Irish Penal Reform Trust has repeatedly pointed out that adult prisons are completely unsuitable for meeting the particular needs of young offenders. This sentiment 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.

The legal erasing of St. Patrick's Institution and the addition of six new buildings, each with a capacity to house between eight and ten children, are positive steps. Again, the Ombudsman for Children and the Irish Penal Reform Trust agree that the Oberstown centre is the most appropriate environment for the small number of young people for whom detention is necessary. However, both entities have also expressed concern at the findings of a report by the Health Information and Quality Authority published on 23 February concerning two inspections it carried out on the Oberstown centre in October and November 2014. Of a total of ten standards, HIQA found that the child detention schools met just one - education - in full. Six standards were found to require improvement, and the failure to meet three standards was found by HIQA to present significant risk.These were in the areas of single separation, the management of medication and staffing and training issues. The isolation of any child or young person from his or her peers can be damaging and the standards are clear that isolation must only be used sparingly and for the minimum, appropriate period of time. The Irish Penal Reform Trust, IPRT, is particularly concerned at reports that single separation was used due to staff shortages. Concerns regarding insufficient staffing, staff training and high levels of staff absenteeism are also detailed in the inspection report. In a 12-month period, more than 700 cases of single separation were recorded at Oberstown, with one child spending more than 83 hours in isolation over a four-day period.

It has been proven that in areas where supports exist for minors who are exposed to violence or trouble in their communities, these supports significantly reduce the number of children who get into trouble with the law. We must start discussing the issue of early intervention and prevention. We must create a system which is humane and progressive - a rehabilitation process which encourages all children to reach their full potential rather than a system which negatively impacts future generations for life.

It is worth reminding ourselves that this State's reputation in regard to prisons is justly criticised for being embarrassing. The Government should be embarrassed. Ireland is one of only four European countries not to have ratified the UN's anti-torture protocol. Professor Malcolm Evans, whose work focuses on preventing torture and degrading treatment, expressed frustration at the fact that the Government has repeatedly promised but failed to ratify a system of independent, international inspections. He said at the last universal periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN member states in 2011, that Ireland's failure to sign up to the UN's anti-torture protocol was openly criticised, even by some countries in the developing world with very poor human rights records. Professor Evans said some would reach the conclusion the justice authorities in Ireland had an issue with transparency and accountability. The protocol provides for the UN and national bodies to make unannounced visits to all places of detention, including prisons, police stations and psychiatric hospitals and to report on what they find. The bodies have the power to examine the facilities and interview staff and detainees in confidence as part of that inspection process.

I note a certain irony to the scheduling of business today. I welcome the fact that we are closing down St. Patrick's Institution, which Senator Bacik rightly called a "black spot on the Irish record", but this is being done on foot of a report done 30 years ago. I seriously hope we will not be in a similar position in regard to what we are doing on direct provision, namely, that we institutionalise it ad nauseamand in 30 years' time other parliamentarians will be here debating reports about how that system is not living up to the human rights standards it should. In numerous reports, the direct provision system has been called a form of open prison and has been reported as violating human rights. It has been termed as "privatised institutionalisation". In the case of St. Patrick's Institution, we had HIQA oversight, but we do not have that independent oversight of the direct provision system and the Ombudsman has no role in overseeing it.

In the context of closing down one prison today, I call on all Senators to ensure that we do not perpetualise another open prison type system in the direct provision system later today and to vote against the Bill coming up in that regard.