IPRT presented to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the General Scheme of the Children (Amendment) Bill 2024
4th November 2025
On 4 November 2025, IPRT's Executive Director Saoirse Brady and Legal Policy Manager Niamh McCormack appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to give evidence on the Children (Amendment) Bill 2024, which seeks to strengthen elements of the youth justice system. They are pictured below with colleagues from the sector and academia who also spoke before the committee.
While welcoming the Bill’s purpose, IPRT highlighted a missed opportunity to align with international human rights obligations, including repeated calls from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years. Children’s developmental capacities differ significantly from adults, and criminalising children as young as 10 is inappropriate. IPRT recommends amending Head 3 to reflect this standard.
The organisation also welcomed proposals under Head 9 to prevent custodial remand where no place is available in Oberstown Detention Campus and stressed that detention must remain a last resort. IPRT called for extending the successful Bail Supervision Scheme nationwide and ensuring alternatives to custody are prioritised where appropriate.
IPRT supported the expansion of Deferred Sentence Supervision Orders (DSSO) under Head 19 as a flexible way to divert children from detention, while emphasising that rehabilitation and reintegration should guide detention periods under Head 21. The organisation also recommended extending youth justice principles and supports to young adults up to 24 to avoid abrupt “cliff-edge” transitions.
The opening statements of all the speakers were followed by a question and answer session. Full committee proceedings are available to watch here.
Read the opening statement here.
IPRT's full submission is here.
