Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 319: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of those under the age of 18 years arrested for criminal activity between 2000 and 2007; and the amount the detention of these juveniles cost the State for each of these years. [38310/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I can inform the Deputy that statistical data on the number of children who come into conflict with the criminal justice system is already published and available through relevant Government websites. In this connection, I wish to refer the Deputy to my Reply to Parliamentary Question No. 818 of 17 June 2008.

The Deputy will be aware that not all young people under eighteen years are formally charged following arrest as other options are also available to the Gardaí in certain circumstances, for example, the Garda Juvenile Diversion programme. Furthermore, a number of cases that come before the Courts are disposed of by way of non custodial sentences with detention viewed as a last resort. It is the case therefore that arrest and detention numbers are not directly related.

Since 1st March, 2007, responsibility for the management of the children detention schools transferred to my Department from the Department of Education and Science. Boys aged under 16 and girls under 18 are detained in these schools while boys convicted at 16 and 17 are detained in St. Patrick's Institution which is managed by the Irish Prison Service. The operational costs of the detention schools are provided in the following table for 2001-2007 on the basis of records transferred from the Department of Education and Science. It should be noted that the figures may not be directly comparable year-on-year as pre-2006 figures include the pay costs of teachers in the education centres within the schools, and St. Joseph's Special School, Clonmel, ceased to be a detention school on 1st March 2007.

As St. Patrick's Institution is not used solely for the detention of sixteen and seventeen year old boys, it is not possible to provide the Deputy with the annual cost of keeping that specific age group at the Institution.