Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he has been furnished with a statement from Trinity House School, County Dublin, clearly defining the role of the board, its responsibilities, authority, monitoring function in accordance with standard 6.9, including in the statement the lines of accountability of the directors and the board's relationship with the Irish Youth Justice Service as recommended in the Health Information and Quality Authority Inspection Report 393; the actions taken by him to follow up on the implementation of these recommendations by HIQA in terms of the board of management and the supervision structures in Trinity House School; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33928/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has an important role in ensuring that proper standards are maintained in all 3 of the children detention schools on the Oberstown campus, Lusk, Co Dublin. These are Trinity House School, Oberstown Boys School and Oberstown Girls School. There is one Board of Management on the Oberstown campus, which has responsibility for all 3 children detention schools. The HIQA recommendation mentioned by the Deputy applies to the Board of Management of the Oberstown campus, and not Trinity House School. The roles of the Minister, the Board, and the Director are set out in Part 10 the Children Act, 2001.

The HIQA inspection report No. 393 on Trinity House School, published in November 2010, included a recommendation that the Board of Management should produce a statement in the terms outlined by the Deputy. This recommendation was reviewed by HIQA in a further inspection report (No. 453) published in August 2011 which noted that a draft statement had been prepared, but this had yet to be provided to HIQA inspectors. I understand that the Board has not, prior to its recent expiry, approved a statement which would implement this recommendation. A new Board is due to be appointed shortly and responsibility for this matter will transfer to my colleague the Minster for Children and Youth Affairs. I am advised that one of the its first priority tasks will be to draw up an implementation plan to address any outstanding recommendations made by HIQA. I expect that the recommendation outlined by the Deputy will be fully met at an early stage in the term of the new Board.