Crime records ‘should be cleared at 18’

The head of the new Child and Family Agency (CFA) has said he believes all, bar the most serious crimes, should be wiped from a young person’s criminal record when they turn 18.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Irish Examiner as part of our investigation on the placing of Irish children in overseas care facilities, Gordon Jeyes also said plans to double the number of secure care places in the next two years would provide sufficient cover, and “it would be dangerous to be planning on the basis of locking more children up”.

He said the CFA planned to seriously curtail legal expenditure on care cases which go before the courts and denied there was a lengthy waiting list for secure care places.