Ombudsman’s report - Young offenders have rights

In HER third annual report published yesterday Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan highlighted her difficulties in hearing complaints from young offenders in certain detention centres, especially St Patrick’s Institute.

She was not referring to specific complaints that her office received, but about her perception that the young people do not have proper facilities to complain.

A mere 8% of the complaints to her office related to children in detention. Maybe her uneasiness was sparked by the low level of complaints in comparison with those in other sectors.

“In such cases children are often invisible, their voices are not respected, and there is no obligation for their best interests to be considered,” she warned. “The state must address these deficits in how children are treated.”

The Committee on the Prevention of Torture, an international human rights body, has suggested to the Government that the ombudsman’s office should have access to children in St Patrick’s Institute. The mere mention of the word “torture” has horrific implications, but then some of the abuse that has been uncovered in the residential school going back over the decades has been a frightening reminder of the dangers.

The ombudsman has met the young people at St Patrick’s, and she professed to be happy with the way she was received by the governor. She got to speak with 84 of the young people, but obviously feels that the complaints procedure is in need of overhaul.

It is in the interest of the staff as well as the young people that there should be ready facilities for the young people to register complaints. And those complaints should be investigated independently.

Last year the Ombudsman for Children received 742 complaints, up almost 44% on the 517 complaints of 2006. Three-quarters of the complaints came from family or extended family members who expressed frustration at accessing adequate services for their children.

The increase could actually be a positive factor in demonstrating increased confidence in the actual system that people are taking the trouble to complain.

In previous years complaints were evenly spread between education and health-related matters, but more complaints in the latest report relate to educational matters. Most of those complaints do not relate to schools but to the role of the Department of Education.

Those educational-related complaints involved school transport, bullying, special needs allocation, and inappropriate behaviour towards children, which includes verbally abusive conduct, hitting and other forms of physical abuse. A total of 28% of the complaints related to the health sector. Most were about HSE services, such as speech, language and occupational therapy, child protection and decisions regarding children in care.

In the midst of recession there will be cutbacks, but we must continue to invest heavily in education, health and infrastructure. After all, our children are this country’s future.