No quick fix for a damaged child

IT costs £73,857 a year to keep a child at Trinity House in Lusk, Co Dublin, the State's only secure custodial facility for boys aged between 12 and 16.

The adjoining Oberstown Boys' Centre, a more open reformatory school, has costs of £59,338 annually for each child. Its counterpart, the Oberstown Girls' Centre, costs £53,881. The figures were released by the Department of Education yesterday as six members of the Oireachtas Committee on the Family visited the centres.

Mr Tony O'Donovan, director of Trinity House, said the costs were in line with similar units in other European countries and North America. He said there was no way to cut the costs of this type of centre, where a great emphasis was placed on building relationships with staff.

The four TDs and two senators also visited the school unit of Trinity House, which has one teacher for every four children.

According to Mr O'Donovan, there were nine attacks on staff at Trinity House last year, down from 40 incidents four years ago. One boy absconded from Trinity House in 1995. This, Mr O'Donovan said, was a "professional" escape with outside assistance.

Forty two children absconded from the open centres for boys and girls during the year and a further 10 did not return from home leave or disappeared while out on trips.

Members of the Lusk Community Council who met the TDs and senators expressed concern at these statistics and said they fear violent attack from escaping offenders. They expressed concern that eight of the nine suggestions in an action plan they put forward were rejected by the board of the centres - on which the local community is represented. The plan included erecting boundary fencing.

Mr Michael O'Connor, director of the Oberstown Boys' Centre, said he appreciated the local community's fears and concerns. But unless offenders were persistent absconders they should be in an open setting.

The Department of Education is reviewing security and a report is expected shortly.

In a discussion on crime and violence, Mr O'Connor expressed concern about violent videos. "These children were quite used to being sat down in front of the TV without supervision to watch increasingly violent videos. It is a very serious problem."

He said that most of the children came from very dysfunctional families with poor parenting skills, in which the children had suffered much abuse. "We are dealing with tough, damaged children," he added.

That is reflected in figures for 1994 compiled by the director of the girls' centre, Ms Jackie Crinion. That year 72 per cent of the girls' fathers were unemployed; 39 per cent of parents were separated; 40 per cent of fathers were violent in the home; and 52 per cent of fathers and 42 per cent of both parents were abusing alcohol.

"There is no quick fix. It is a multi faceted problem and requires a multi faceted approach," said Mr O'Connor. He stressed the necessity of much earlier intervention, when children are three or four years old.

The Oireachtas delegation included the committee chairman, Mr Paul McGrath, and Ms Frances Fitzgerald, Ms Roisin Shortall, Mr Seamus Hughes, Senator Paddy Burke and Senator Sean Byrne.