A 16-YEAR-OLD boy has been given leave to bring a constitutional challenge to the practice of detaining minors in St Patrick’s Institution, which is part of the Mountjoy Prison complex.
Clearing the way for a constitutional challenge, the boy’s lawyers secured leave from Mr Justice Michael Peart in the High Court this week to bring a judicial review against the State on the issue.
In a sworn document setting out the grounds for the action, the teen’s solicitor Gareth Noble argued that the practice of detaining juvenile prisoners in the same environment as adults was in breach of the boy’s constitutional rights and gender equality laws as well as being incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.