Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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337. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the planned opening date of the Oberstown-Trinity House complex for under-18 year olds. [44030/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The commitment in the Programme for Government to end the practice of detaining children in adult prison facilities will be met when the extension of the Oberstown campus results in the transfer of responsibility for 17 year old boys from the Irish Prison Service to the children detention schools. The Oberstown development project, which commenced on site in September 2013, will enable the extension of the child care model of detention to all under 18 year olds ordered to be detained by the courts on criminal justice charges.

The current information available to me is that the first 3 units of residential accommodation, which will prioritise the transfer of responsibility for 17 year old boys from adult prison facilities, are expected to be formally handed over to the Oberstown campus before the end of this month following the required inspection of works and technical approval of the Office of Public Works, managing the project on behalf of my Department. I am advised that there will be a need for a further period of 6 weeks for staff training and orientation in the new facilities and for the fitting out of the new units with required furniture and equipment. This is necessary to ensure safe and secure custody of children in the new buildings and that the appropriate health and safety standards are met.

The operational date for the new children detention facilities is also subject to the recruitment of the required complement of new care staff to work in the expanded facilities, and the passage of necessary legislation to ensure that all legal issues relating to the detention of children up to the age of 18 are fully addressed. The recruitment programme is already well underway with some new staff already in place in the children detention schools. An additional recruitment process for a further phase of recruitment is currently being advanced and it is intended that the required staff complement will be reached in the first quarter of 2015 for the operation of all of the new residential units. My Department is also progressing the necessary legal changes required in order to transfer responsibility for 17 year old boys from adult prison facilities. Heads of a Bill to amend the Children Act 2001 were approved by Government in September and it is intended that the Bill will be published next month and enacted as soon as possible thereafter.

My Department is reviewing these matters on an ongoing basis and it is my intention that the operation of the first 3 residential units will be achieved as early as possible in the new year.