The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, is seeking the advice of the Attorney General about an appropriate place of detention for the 16-year-old girl who pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to seven years detention.

He was replying to Ms Jan O'Sullivan (Lab, Limerick East) who pointed out that a girl under the age of 17 could not be placed in prison but in a place of detention, but there was no such place in the State for girls aged between 16 and 17.

The 16-year-old is currently in Oberstown House, Lusk, in north County Dublin.