Statement: Bacik Hosts Oireachtas Seminar on St. Patrick's Institution and Need for Reform

STATEMENT BY SENATOR IVANA BACIK
Labour Party Seanad leader and Spokesperson on Justice
Tuesday 15th November 2011

BACIK HOSTS OIREACHTAS SEMINAR ON ST. PATRICK'S INSTITUTION AND NEED FOR REFORM

Professor Harry Kennedy and Emily Logan, the Children's Ombudsman, will be speaking today in Leinster House at a seminar being hosted by Senator Ivana Bacik and facilitated by the Irish Penal Reform Trust.

The seminar will be on the subject of St. Patrick's Institution. The focus will be upon the continued detention of children in the Institution, and the need to ensure adequate facilities both for the boys over 18 detained there; and for the children who should no longer be detained there but who remain pending their transfer to more suitable facilities.

In opening the seminar, Senator Bacik will say,

“The Programme for Government contains a commitment to end the practice of sending children to St. Patrick's Institution. However, on a recent visit to St. Patrick's Institution with other members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, we were told that over 30 children continue to be detained there. I urge the Government to act immediately to end the detention of children. Pending their move to different facilities, it is essential that the children have access to adequate accommodation, educational and other support facilities.”

“I look forward to hearing from Professor Harry Kennedy, who with his colleagues from the Central Mental Hospital has initiated ground-breaking work in recent months within St. Patrick's and who will outline the emerging evidence from his team's assessment of the boys detained there. I also very much look forward to hearing from Emily Logan, the Ombudsman for Children, who has undertaken a number of significant projects in recent years to highlight the experiences of the children who continue to be detained in St. Patrick's.”

ENDS