Written answers

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Child Detention Centres

Photo of Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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387. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the state of development at Oberstown; the drug treatment facilities that will be available; the resources that will be available for staff; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45959/13]

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Following extensive work involving my Department and the Office of Public Works since I secured funding for this project in early 2012, the design process is now complete, planning permission has been secured and the tendering process has resulted in BAM Building Ltd. being appointed as the main contractor. A number of sub-contractors have also been appointed and construction started on site on 23 September 2013. On 14 October 2013 I officially launched the construction of the new facilities.

The timeline for the project will see the first three new residential units available in the third quarter of 2014, which will be used to facilitate the transfer of responsibility for 17 year old boys from adult prison facilities (currently St. Patrick's Institution) to the Oberstown campus and will deliver on the Government's commitment to end the practice of detaining children in St. Patrick's Institution. An additional three residential units, to be delivered in 2015, will be used to replace existing accommodation on the Oberstown campus which has reached the end of its useful life. The development will also provide associated education, recreation, security and other ancillary facilities and will result in all detention services for children being delivered in a single location, maximising the scope for ensuring best practice standards, using the children detention school model, and operational efficiency. The project is due to be fully complete by the third quarter of 2015.

Among the facilities to be provided is a dedicated medical area to support improved delivery of on-site services from visiting doctors and dentists and from the nurse employed on campus. In addition, and in advance of the new facilities being delivered, a certified system of mental health screening is shortly to be implemented for all young people being detained on campus which will identify those who are misusing drugs/alcohol within 24 to 48 hours after admission. These young people will be referred to the Assessment, Consultation and Therapy Service (ACTS), a new HSE service based on the Oberstown campus that will provide in-reach therapeutic services to the children detention schools. This service includes addiction counsellors.

However, the deputy should be aware that the children detention schools are not specialist drug treatment centres. A policy for Drugs/Alcohol and Substance Use/Misuse has been developed to deal appropriately with young people affected by these issues including access to specialist services when necessary. The policy is available to view on the website of the Irish Youth Justice Service, www.iyjs.ie. This approach is in line with the wider approach of facilitating access by young people to appropriate specialist interventions whereby those with specialist needs are accompanied to healthcare and other settings.

Staff in the children detention schools are, and will continue to be, fully supported with training and development in this and all other relevant areas to ensure competency in working in what is often a very challenging environment. Measures are ongoing to create an integrated, single campus and to develop a single set of care policies, in the context of the proposed full amalgamation of the existing 3 children detention schools, which will support management and staff in cross campus working and opportunities for further development. A Campus Manager is to be appointed shortly who will be responsible for driving the reforms that are currently taking place in Oberstown. In order to complement the expansion in the Oberstown campus, work is ongoing on a recruitment programme to be implemented on a phased basis for additional care staff needed to manage the new facilities that are being brought into operation during 2014.

A comprehensive planning process has also recently commenced for the delivery of services for all children under 18 in Oberstown in advance of the transfer of responsibility for 17 year old boys. This will include appropriate input from the Irish Youth Justice Service which is based in my Department, the Irish Prison Service and other agencies including the Probation Service, the Courts Service, an Garda Síochána and the HSE Child and Family Support Services, which will shortly become the Child and Family Agency.

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