No Room At Detention Centre For Boy, 15

A 15 -year-old boy arrested in connection with a gun and petrol bomb attack on a home in Dublin in March was today remanded on bail after a court heard that a detention centre did not have a space to hold him.

The boy has been charged at the Children’s Court under the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act for reckless discharge of a firearm, on a date in March last, in Blanchardstown in Dublin.

Defence solicitor Michelle Finan said she had been instructed by the teen’s parents that the boy had been “seeing a therapist and had been going through some difficulties.”

He was consenting to being remanded in custody to the National Remand and Assessment Centre, a juvenile detention centre in Finglas, in Dublin, for behavioural assessments to be carried out.

“He is making his best effort and engaging with what services are there. From the instructions from his parents and the people dealing with him they would feel that the assessment there would be tailor-made for him.”

However, Judge Patrick McMahon heard today that the detention centre did not have room for the boy. He granted bail to the teenager, who was accompanied to court by his parents, ordering him appear again later this month to ascertain whether or not a place in the detention centre will be free then.

The boy has been ordered to obey a curfew to be in his home between 10pm and 7am, to sign on three times a week at his local Garda station, to remain out of the Dublin 15 area and not to have any contact with any witnesses in the case.

Two co-defendants, boys aged 15 and 17, charged with possessing a petrol bomb with intent to cause damage had earlier been remanded on bail pending directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions.