Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Ms Frances Fitzgerald TD, has officially launched the construction project for new child detention facilities, to increase capacity and improve services on the Oberstown campus, Lusk, Dublin.

Minister Fitzgerald said the start of construction on the Oberstown project further demonstrated the Government commitment's to implementing long-awaited reforms. The main objective of this project is to implement the Programme for Government commitment to end the detention of children in adult prison facilities.

The Minister stated: "I am delighted to announce that a contract has been awarded for the construction of these facilities and development of the Oberstown campus. Since my appointment as Minister, I have prioritised the resourcing of this project. The objective of ending the detention of children in adult prison facilities has been recognised by successive administrations since at least the 1980s.

"There have been numerous attempts over the years to progress this project but this Government has, at a time of major constraint for the public finances, committed the resources needed to resolve this issue once and for all."

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The Minister outlined that following an open procurement competition, the Office of Public Works (OPW), on behalf of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, had awarded the main construction contract to BAM Building Ltd. A number of specialist contractors, providing services such as electrical, mechanical engineering and security doors and gates have also been appointed to be managed by the main contractor. The total contract is valued at €56.4m (including VAT).

Minister Fitzgerald said: "This is the culmination of a long process to design, fund and procure this project which, by increasing capacity on the Oberstown campus, will deliver on the Government's commitment to end the use of St. Patrick's Institution for children detained by the courts. Following on from my decision as an interim measure to assign responsibility for 16 year old boys to the Oberstown campus during 2012, this project will ensure the extension of the child care model of detention to all children under the age of 18 years."

The timeline for the project will see the first three new residential units available in third quarter of 2014. These units will be used to facilitate the transfer of responsibility for 17-year-old boys from adult prison facilities (currently St Patrick's Institution) to the Oberstown campus.

The remaining three residential units, to be delivered in 2015, will be used to replace existing accommodation that has reached the end of its useful life on the existing Oberstown campus. The development will also provide associated education, recreation, security and other ancillary facilities and will result in all detention services for children being delivered in a single location, maximising the scope for ensuring best practice standards using the children detention school model and for operational efficiency.

(CD/JP)