Jesuits slam govt plans on young offenders

The Jesuit centre for faith and justice has criticised the Government’s plans to house 20 youths in St Patrick’s Prison in Dublin when they should be in the special schools system.

The €9m plan was announced in response to public outrage over the deaths of two Gardai whose patrol car collided with a stolen vehicle earlier this year.

Jesuit spokesman Fr Peter McVerry said:

"Those young people’s needs have not been met in their families, they’re not being met in their community, they haven’t been met by the educational system.

"Unless we’re putting into place opportunities for their needs to be met, they will simply express those unmet needs in anti-social and criminal behaviour."