Remand unit for young female offenders unveiled

A STATE-OF-THE-ART remand unit for young female offenders was unveiled yesterday.

The new unit at Oberstown Girls’ School is for girls aged between 12 and 17. It cost around €300,000 to fit out and was officially opened by Minister for Children Brendan Smith yesterday.

Visiting the female inmates at the remand unit, Mr Smith praised staff working at the facility.

“The creation of this positive living and working environment is a tribute to the staff’s attention to detail and their dedication,” said Mr Smith.

Reconstruction of the girls remand and assessment unit at Oberstown, Lusk, Dublin began in 2002.

The centre was renamed Cuan Beag, meaning little harbour or haven, which was chosen by two girls in the long-stay unit of Oberstown Girls School. Since March this year, girls under 18 are no longer allowed to be ordered by the courts to be detained in an adult prison as part of the Children’s Act.

Up to six female inmates will be able to stay in Cuan Beag. Its facilities include en-suite showers and toilets, a medical centre, leisure areas and a visiting area as well as a screening room for new arrivals.

Staff say the refurbished and redesigned unit will be more comfortable for girls on remand compared to the previous building, which was constructed in the 1960s.

Mary Geaney, national manager of detention school services, said: “Girls will stay here having committed a range of offences from burglary to assault. But it’s a modern, secure and safe building for them, many of whom will have come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many will not have been in school for long or might have been neglected at home.

“Oberstown Girls’ School is showing us the way forward and I see this as the beginning of our work to develop modern facilities across all the children detention schools.”

Oberstown has several separate units including facilities for boys as well as juveniles serving long sentences.

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