Inmates may be moved shortly

Seventeen-year-old inmates at St Patrick’s Institute for Young Offenders could be moved out of the facility in the near future, Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald said yesterday.

She told the Joint Committee on Health and Children that 27 teenagers aged 17 are in the facility, which was the subject of a critical report from the Inspector of Prisons this week.

Ms Fitzgerald said that while Justice Minister Alan Shatter intends for St Patrick’s to close, the 17-year-olds could be transferred to the Oberstown unit in North Dublin.