Jesuit Centre Welcomes Government Plan to Build Appropriate Child Detention Facilities

News Release

6 March 2008

The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice welcomes today’s announcement by the Minister for Children, Brendan Smith TD, of a new national detention facility to cater for children who are ordered by the courts to be detained. 
Commenting on the announcement, Fr Tony O’Riordan SJ, Director of the Centre, said:
“I particularly welcome the fact that this development will mean that responsibility for 16 and 17 year olds will transfer from the Irish Prison Service to the Irish Youth Justice Service so that young people of this age will no longer be subject to the regime of a prison for adults. This decision should mean that they will be detained in a more positive environment that recognises their potential for development and promotes their re-integration into society.”

He added that this move was necessary to bring Ireland in line with international best practice and to meet Ireland’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which require that children should not be detained alongside adults.
Fr O’Riordan also welcomed the indication that planning for the development will proceed immediately. However, he called on the Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan TD, to explicitly state that the Irish Prison Service will not now proceed with the proposed inclusion in the new Thornton Hall Prison Complex of a facility to be used in an ‘interim basis’ for 16 and 17 years old boys transferred from St Patrick’s Institution.
Fr O’Riordan said: “If, as today’s announcement indicates, the  planning and development of the new facility will proceed immediately, with priority being given to the accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds, then the need for an interim facility becomes redundant. This is particularly the case given that building at Thornton Hall has not yet started.”
While welcoming today’s announcement, and also recognising the positive developments in recent months represented by the Irish Youth Justice Service’s emphasis on alternatives to detention for children, Fr O’Riordan said that we cannot lose sight of the fact that the regime under which 16 and 17 year olds are currently detained in St Patrick’s Institution falls far short of what is appropriate for young people of this age group. He pointed out: “Unless there is a radical improvement now, hundreds of 16 and 17 year olds will experience that harmful regime in the period before the new facility at Lusk is provided”.  This, however, need not be the case, he said, and he urged both the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Children to immediately put in place a comprehensive plan to transform the regime for 16 and 17 year olds in St Patrick’s. 

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For further information contact:

Fr Tony O’Riordan SJ, Director

Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice

26 Upper Sherrard Street, Dublin 1.

Tel: 087 928 6945; 01 8556814 (office)