Thirty places available for young offenders are not in use despite urgent demand for such services, the Labour Party has said today.
The Labour spokesperson on Education and Children Ms Roisin Shortall TD, said figures she had been given show there are "theoretically" 162 places in the five special schools for young offenders. However the total number of places actually in use is just 132. Ms Shortall described this situation as "ludicrous".
She said the figures showed that claims made by the Government that there was a substantial increase in the number of places for young offenders are "baseless and that the situation has actually got worse."
The Minister for Education, Dr Woods responded by saying the operational capacity of special centres for young offenders fluctuates from time to time "for a variety of reasons."
He said the capacity of the centre at Finglas is presently reduced to facilitate refurbishment and new developments.
There are five Young Offender Centres under the aegis of the Department and they currently provideing residential accommodation for up to 162 children which includes up to 31 remand places. The Minister confirmed that current operational capacity is 132 places.
The news follows the release yesterday of a 14-year-old boy, described by Mr Justice Peter Kelly as being prone to "extreme physical violence".
The boy was released because he could no longer be accommodated in a secure detention centre. The boy’s detention space was given to a 15-year-old youth held on remand on a series of charges relating to the crash in which two gardaí died on Sunday.
Mr Justice Kelly said he was left with no option but to release the boy. He warned that he was sure he would "be presented with another disaster within 24 or 48 hours."