Minister rejects building Cork youth detention centre despite hardship plea

The Government says it has no plans to build a youth detention centre in Co Cork, despite pleas from public representatives who have highlighted the hardship being imposed on teenagers from the region who are being detained in Dublin.

Since the youth detention centre closed on Spike Island some years ago, successive governments have sought to centralise such facilities in the Dublin region.

Cork County Council recently wrote to Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald pleading for her to open a new facility in Cork which would service needs in the Munster region.