The new detention centre for young offenders will not work and will effectively be a children's prison, according to a former director of Barnardo's, the children's charity.
Mr Andrew Logue described the centre as a "knee-jerk reaction" to concerns about crime. It would be a "rerun" of Loughan House in Blacklion, Co Cavan, which was established in 1978 when there were similar concerns about youth offenders.
"The then Minister for Justice established Loughan House for children who were beyond control," he said. "It didn't work. I thought we had moved on since then."
Loughan House was supposed to be temporary, he said. "This centre is supposed to be temporary until more appropriate accommodation is provided. But there are no guarantees that this will not be an open-ended arrangement."
Angry about the new centre, the retired social worker said there "hasn't been any real interest in children from crisis communities in 20 years".
"This new centre will be a children's prison. Who wants a children's prison in Ireland? It is prison officers being brought in to lock up children," he claimed. He said it was totally inappropriate for prison officers to be dealing with these youths.
"This would not happen in Northern Ireland; only in the Republic would a children's prison be established."
The retired former director of Barnardo's said the "same amount of energy, expertise and resources have not been put into Oberstown House and Trinity House. Instead, they are recruiting prison officers. How much more will prison officers be paid compared to staff at centres like Trinity, Oberstown and Ballydowd, north Dublin?"
Mr Logue was a founder member and chairman of CARE, the campaign for deprived children which was established in 1970 by psychiatrists, social workers and barristers for children from "crisis communities".
