Written answers

Wednesday, 13 February 2019

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Child Detention Centres

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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41. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will publish the report on Oberstown Children's Detention Campus. [7069/19]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Deputy will be aware of the extensive discussion on this matter that took place at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children on 30 January last. At that meeting, the Chair of the Board of Oberstown, Professor Ursula Kilkelly, gave a detailed update on the current situation.

She outlined, among other things the serious legal difficulties associated with publishing the full report, for reasons which have been well set out on a number of occasions.

The House will be aware that I also met with the Joint Committee on the matter on 18 December last and offered my perspective. I do not believe that the situation has changed since that time.

At the Joint Oireachtas Committee meeting of 30 January there was a suggestion that the Chair would examine whether a summary of the legal advice given to the Board of Oberstown might be prepared and supplied to the Committee. The Chair agreed to examine whether this is possible and I understand that she is pursuing the matter.

I would reiterate that the recommendations of the Operational Review, which are at the kernel of how we move forward, were published in July 2017 and are being implemented as part of a significant package of reform in Oberstown.

In addition to the Operational Review, the Board commissioned a number of other reports at the same time, with a view to engaging external expertise to support the development of the Campus. These reviews included security, health and safety and behaviour management.

Deputies will recall that I established a Review Implementation Group whose final report, received in December 2017, produced a coherent plan to implement the recommendations of the various reports.

An updated Action Plan from the Review Implementation Group was completed in May 2018 and was published on my Department’s website. My Department continues to monitor the Review Implementation Group and the second report on the implementation of the recommendations was published on 29 January last.

My focus now is on ensuring that all of the key recommendations are implemented and to ensure that Oberstown observes best practice and international standards. I believe that this is the best way forward for the young people at the campus.

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