Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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609. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons serving life sentences for crimes they committed while under 18 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1989/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the statistics requested regarding the number of persons serving a life sentence for crimes they committed while under the age of 18 are not readily available. The Irish Prison Service current has 371 persons in custody serving a life sentence. It would not be possible to provide the age a person was when they committed the crime. In some cases, years can pass between the crime being committed and the person receiving the sentence. 

However, the Prison Service have informed me that there are currently four persons in custody serving a life sentence who were under the age of 18 when they were committed to prison.