Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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22. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on the desirability of her Department assuming responsibility for young adults in the judicial system, responsibility which currently rests with the Department of Justice and Equality; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14658/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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By way of background, statutory provision in relation to young offenders in terms of persons under the age of 18 years is set out in the Children Act 2001. The elements of the Children Act relating to the operation of the Garda Youth Diversion Programme, matters relating to criminal proceedings against children, criminal law issues and the operation of the Children Court under the Act come within the remit of the Tanaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality. The operation of the children detention school system under Part 10 of the Act is under the remit of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. The Irish Youth Justice Service, based in my Department and staffed by officials working on an interagency basis from both Departments concerned, oversee the operation of the Act, youth crime policy and all relevant projects and programmes. A Youth Justice Action Plan was agreed in 2014 for the period up to 2018 and this is implemented by the Irish Youth Justice Service in conjunction with all relevant agencies, including An Garda Síochána, the Probation Service, the Oberstown Detention Campus, the Irish Prison Service and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. The aim of the Action Plan is to create a safer society by working in partnership to reduce youth offending through appropriate interventions and linkages to services.

I assume the context of the Deputy's question refers to the recent report issued by the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, entitled "Developing Inside - Transforming prison for young adults". This report makes a range of recommendations in relation to the operation of prison and custodial regimes for young adults in the age range of 18 - 24 years. These recommendations include assigning responsibility for this age cohort to the Irish Youth Justice Service, achieving a significant reduction in the number imprisoned, accommodating such persons in separate facilities from older prisoners, ending the use of restricted prison regimes and enhanced training for prison staff. All of these recommendations have implications for the operation of the adult prison system and some of them have implications for the wider criminal justice system, which is under the remit of the Tanaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality.

At the moment my political priority in this field must continue to be the ending of the practice of detaining children in adult prison facilities. A programme of investment in the Oberstown campus, combined with necessary legal and operational reforms, has been underway in recent years to this end. It is my aim to assign responsibility for 17 year old boys who are serving a sentence of detention to the Oberstown campus at the earliest date possible this year, subject to the progress of a recruitment programme which is ongoing at present. This will end the practice of detaining children in adult prison facilities, which has been called for since at least the 1980s.

When this review is complete, I will review with careful discernment the recommendations of the report issued by the Joint Committee, as well as reports by other respected bodies or independent bodies such as the IHREC.