Children Detention Schools

Detention — an Option of Last Resort

It is important as part of growing up for a child to stay in contact with their family and community. It is because of this that the court may decide that the child can stay in their own school and be part of their community, but still deal with the consequences of the child’s actions.

However, sometimes the court has to send a child to a place of detention. Before doing do, the court will try to make sure that there is no other option available that would address the offences which the child has committed.

Children Detention Schools

The Children Act 2001 makes it illegal to order the detention of a child (with effect from 1 March, 2007) under 18 years to a prison. In addition, the Act has been amended so that:

responsibility for detention schools has been transferred from the Minister for Education and Science to the Minister for Justice and Equality
the detention school model will be extended to include 16- to 17-year-olds

The legislation to do this came into effect in March 2007. This means that the places where a child can be ordered to be detained by the courts are:

Trinity House, Lusk
Oberstown Boys School, Lusk
Oberstown Girls School, Lusk
St. Patrick’s Institution (for 16- and 17-year-old boys for a transitional period)

The Irish Youth Justice Service is responsible for the existing children detention schools and is taking steps to develop children detention school places for 16- and 17-year-olds. Until these places are available, St. Patrick’s Institution will continue to be used for 16- and 17-year-old boys.

St. Patrick’s Institution

St. Patrick’s Institution is managed by the Irish Prison Service. At the moment, it is a closed institution for offenders aged 16 to 21 years. Plans have been made for separate accommodation for the majority of 16- and 17-year-old boys, pending the further development of the children detention schools.