Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 1095: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of places of detention available in the Dublin area for children who have received custodial sentences from the courts; the number of residential places provided in each year over the past ten years; the existing waiting lists for places for such persons who have gone through the courts system and who are under 18 years of age; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24525/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There are four children detention schools under the aegis of my Department in the Dublin area, providing residential services for children generally up to age 16 years, who have been convicted of an offence or placed on remand by a Court.

The four Dublin schools currently provide 74 places. Table 1 details the number of residential places provided in the ten year period from 1996 to 2005. The reduction in capacity requirements over recent years can be attributed to the provision of facilities for children within the health sector, the increasing view of detention as a last resort, consistent with the provisions of the Children Act 2001, and the development of alternatives to custody.

Currently, all requests for beds in the children detention schools from the courts are channelled centrally via the special residential services board. This board was established pursuant to the Children Act 2001. Its function is to provide policy advice to my Department and to the Department of Health and Children on the remand and detention of children and to ensure the effective, efficient and co-ordinated delivery of services to children in respect of whom children detention orders or special care orders are made. The board liaises with the courts, and advises, on request, with regard to suitable bed placements or alternate child care options depending on the case circumstances. There is ongoing co-ordination by the board with the various agencies, including my Department, to provide appropriate placements to meet the needs of the individual child. The board has confirmed that it does not operate a placement waiting list for children up to age 16 years. At present, the number of places available in the children detention school sector can provide adequately for the number of children committed by the courts.

The provision of detention places for young people over age 16 years and under 18 years of age is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. For the purpose of this question, a juvenile is assumed to be a person under 18 years of age. There are currently no places reserved solely for juveniles in the prison system. In practice, the majority of juveniles committed to custody are detained in St. Patrick's Institution, which is a closed institution reserved in law exclusively for male offenders aged 16 to 21 years. St. Patrick's Institution currently has bed capacity for 217 prisoners, a figure which has increased from 172 in the mid-1990s. In addition, each of the prisons in the State can accommodate persons aged 17 years and over. As the prison system must accommodate all those committed to its custody from the courts, it does not therefore operate on a waiting list system.

There were ten male offenders aged 16 years of age in custody on 21 September 2005. Each of these persons was detained in St. Patrick's Institution. In addition, there were 45 male offenders aged 17 years of age in custody on that date. The details are set out in table 2. On the same date, there were no female juveniles in the prison system.

Offenders under the age of 15 years cannot be committed to a prison under any circumstances. Fifteen year old male prisoners and 15 and 16 year old female offenders can be committed to prison only in exceptional circumstances. This can occur only in cases where the court certifies under the provisions of sections 97 and 102 of the Children Act 1908, that the young person is so unruly or depraved of character that he or she cannot be detained in a place of detention provided under Part V of the Act.