A MAJOR new child detention facility is being planned that will accommodate almost all of the State's young offenders and remove children from the prison system.
An expert group involving a range of Government officials is understood to have recommended a major new child-detention school complex be built in Lusk, Co Dublin, The Irish Timeshas learned. The report was completed recently and the recommendations were discussed at Cabinet this week.
A spokesman for Minister for Children Brendan Smith refused to comment on the report's recommendations yesterday, except to say they will be published at a conference later today.
The complex has not been officially costed, although about €145 million has been set aside in the National Development Plan for constructing such a facility.
The move would help modernise the child-detention system in the State which has been repeatedly criticised by children's rights campaigners and the UN.
However, despite the development it is likely that the new Thornton Hall prison will be used to accommodate young offenders aged 16 and 17 - who are still legally children - for a period of time.
This practice is in breach of an international treaty that prohibits the jailing of juveniles in adult places of detention. The new prison will include spaces for teenage offenders aged between 16 and 17, most of whom are accommodated in St Patrick's Institution for young offenders. The institution - part of the Mountjoy Prison complex - is due to be demolished once Thornton Hall is completed and no child detention facility will be available to take these young offenders.
Government sources have emphasised that Thornton Hall will only be used as an interim measure until the new campus in Lusk is completed.
However, groups such as the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, the Children's Rights Alliance and the Irish Penal Reform Trust have all expressed concern about this plan. They say placing children in adult prisons is a retrograde step.
They also fear that the move may delay progress on the proposed new complex.
The new complex will be able to accommodate between 100 and 150 young offenders aged between 12 and 18 who are accommodated in facilities such as St Patrick's Institution, Trinity House, Oberstown Centre for Boys and Girls and the Finglas Child and Adolescent Centre.
The recommendations are contained in a expert group on juvenile detention which includes representatives from Government departments. They examined a range of options and locations for a new multi-million euro facility for young offenders.
The expert group is understood to have settled on Lusk for a range of reasons, including the supply of State-owned land to develop the complex and that the three child-detention schools are already located in the area.
There is no estimated date as of yet for the construction of the campus. Consequently, it seems likely that the controversial practice of jailing teenagers in adult places of detention will continue for some time.
In 2006, 165 young people under the age of 18 were imprisoned in adult jails.
This practice has been repeatedly criticised by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which examines the State's compliance with its international obligations to respect children's rights.
