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Child restrained with handcuffs by five staff at Oberstown campus

A HIQA report also found staff excessively used single separation, with one child locked in a room for 83 hours over four days.

A CHILD WAS handcuffed while being restrained at a detention centre for children, an inspection found.

The inspection of Oberstown detention campus by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) took place in autumn last year, and said reference was made to the young person’s physical strength, in a plan that mentioned the handcuffing incident.

The head of care told inspectors that there was no formal review of the incident but that they reviewed the CCTV, that 5-7 staff were involved and that the restraint was “all over the place”.

The head of care said that handcuffs should not be used within the campus. A staff member was injured during this incident, and the outcome for the child was poor.

HIQA said it was not clear whether the service took any lesson from the incident to prevent it happening again and improve the safety and quality of the service. At the time, 30% of staff had not received up to date training in behaviour management.

Oberstown detention campus provides a detention service to the courts for young offenders between the age of 10 and 17.

Not always safe

The inspection found that children were “not always safe” there, because best practice was not always implemented.

Children were, on occasion, separated from their peers in locked rooms for long periods of time and it was “not always apparent that other interventions had been tried”.

In the 12 months prior to the inspection, there were 758 occasions when children were on their own in their bedrooms, protection rooms or other rooms and HIQA said this “did not demonstrate that single separation was used as a last resort”.

Protection rooms were used in Trinity house, where a child was locked in small room without natural light, while in other units children spent time in single separation in locked time out rooms, in their bedrooms or in activity rooms

There were a variety of reasons for the use of single separation including threats of suicide, being under the influence of drugs or concerns relating to threatening behaviour.

One child was locked in a room for 83 hours and 45 minutes over four days.Another spent 23 hours and 30 minutes over a two day period in dingle separation, excluding sleeping time, because staff were concerned the young person had prohibited items and would not give them to staff. Shorter periods of single separation were also recorded, such as periods of 30 minutes when a child was smoking in school.

A memorandum was issued to all staff after the inspection which specifically referenced misuse of single separation. HIQA said it was also assured that the separation policy would be reviewed.

In total, the report found the centre complied with just one in ten standards.

Jennifer Gargan, the Director of Empowering People In Care (EPIC), an independent association that works with and for children and young people living in care, said the use of single separation of young people is “deeply concerning”.

Young people while in detention should be afforded the opportunity to address their offending behaviour however it is apparent that this is currently not the case.

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56 Comments
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    Mute Patrick Hurley
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:13 PM

    How does HIQA recommend that you deal with a violent, unpredictable, man-sized teenager?

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    Mute See My Vest
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:07 PM

    Agreed, even though Michelle managed to crowbar the words child and young into that article a record number of times.

    Break the law, pay the price.

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    Mute Mary Dundee
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:15 PM

    If a member of staff was injured then restraints were a necessity in my opinion. Another few years and majority of them will end up in real prision.

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    Mute JakeTheMuss7
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:23 PM

    Have you tackled a 17 yo year old male?
    “The Child” could be a giant with a attitude problem.

    Now you deal with him…

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    Mute Captain kirk
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:25 PM

    Child in restraints makes a great headline

    157
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    Mute Carlow Wexford
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:38 PM

    With kindness, tact and gentleness?

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    Mute Fergal
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 2:49 PM

    It keeps referring to child and children. I certainly don’t consider a 15+yr old a child. Especially in physical terms. These days they’re big as houses. Of course they have to be restrained for everyones safety including their own.

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    Mute Chris Mcdonnell
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    Feb 24th 2015, 1:36 AM

    This is not a child this is a criminal.
    Taser these no good thugs when they step out of line.

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:15 PM

    Next time a ‘child’ goes ballistic in Oberstown the staff should call the HIQA inspectors and let them deal with it….

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    Mute Mike Clinton
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:34 PM

    X2

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    Mute John McGuirk
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:12 PM

    Oh boo hoo. Are we supposed to be upset that a kid sent to one of these centres (for, presumably, breaking the law, behaving antisocially, being violent, or any number of potential offences) was restrained?

    Next you’ll be telling me they’re locked up in these detention centres and not allowed to leave.

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    Mute Brendan Hughes
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:51 PM

    Going on comments thus far it must mean the beedin heart brigeade are on a day off. And here was me gunning for a debate.

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    Mute Al Beebak
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:17 PM

    It takes a hell of a lot of law breaking to occur for one of these little ingrates to wind up there in the first place. Sometimes behavioural Management simply doesn’t work

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    Mute Sean Murphy
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:29 PM

    I was talking to a 16 year old over weekend ago was only out of Oberstown recently. I know him well and he was only there after a couple of years on a crime spree. Judges have him chance after chance and he laughed about it.
    And it wasn’t pretty offences. Robbery and serious assaults were involved.

    He told me Oberstown was good craic. If staff annoy you then you threaten them or complain about them to make their jobs harder.

    Point being this lad was violent and 6’4 and weighs 15 stone. Maybe HIQA should deal with him for a week instead of analysing everything those poor staff do to protect themselves and others.

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    Mute AD0099
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 3:07 PM

    Most Inspectors only join hiqa because they couldnt hack it in Child Protection Services and were crap at their jobs. hiqa doesnt make them competent.

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    Mute Everett Gold
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:13 PM

    These are not kids in the normal sense. They are violent,uneducated thugs,who don’t understand the word NO and have no moral or social skills what so ever.
    And regardless of the reason’s for all of the above and who may be responsible for them turning out like this ,the staff in oberstown are dealing with kid prisoners and should be treated as such. Well done the staff

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    Mute John B
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:35 PM

    I see a staff member was injured in the incident. Perhaps a more appropriate title might be “violent teen thug injures staff member at detention center”. Oh wait, that doesn’t shed as many years from the bleeding hearts.

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    Mute Darragh
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 4:06 PM

    Not many bleeding hearts on the journal I tell ya

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    Mute Joe Traynor
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:20 PM

    The article doesn’t say what age the “child” was , if child could harm or kill another child or member of staff then they must restrain. I’m sure the restraining was all over the place as it’d not easy to restrain someone who is violent without injury to yourself or the person you are attempting to restrain.
    The staff are in an impossible position and will always be open to criticism no matter what they do.

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    Mute See My Vest
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:08 PM

    Probably 17 years 364 days. But the journal can still say child as often as possible

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    Mute Mike Clinton
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:21 PM

    I was initially annoyed about this restraint but as posted,these precautions are taken to protect staff and patient .
    If he self harmed or stabbed an officer/staff member then people would be baying that he should have been restrained.
    Some of these youths are seriously violent and capable of extreme violence.

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    Mute Tom Red
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:13 PM

    The Taser gun was probably broken..
    Mores the pity…..

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    Mute OggieThe4th
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:47 PM

    Has to be ‘one’ hardest job in the world dealing with these young delinquents .

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    Mute OggieThe4th
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:48 PM

    *of

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    Mute OggieThe4th
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:48 PM

    *the

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    Mute OggieThe4th
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:48 PM

    :)

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    Mute Al Beebak
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:19 PM

    You’re off the meds again oggie

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    Mute birdseye
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:12 PM

    It’s all right and good for the desk jockey in hiqa to say the poor child shouldn’t of been restrained etc other methods bla bla bla.
    Would they think the same if they were dealing with a repeat offender who may be 16 but about 6ft and has been scrapping his whole life!
    Load of crap!!!
    Prison officer job for juveniles I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole

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    Mute Mick Jordan
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 2:05 PM

    Remember all the criticism that was thrown at the Prison Officers in St Patricks when dealing with “Children” aged 17 to 21.
    Now the chickens have come home to roost. Emily Logan and Judge Reilly have a lot to answer for.
    The staff in Oberstown and Trinity House work for the Dept of Education. They have a completely different set of rules and guidelines when dealing with violent prisoners that those Prison Officers are trained to use. And as a result I understand that staff on sick leave in Oberstown is through the roof.
    Ask any adult prisoner that had gone through St Patricks and they will tell you they hated the place. Strict discipline and zero tolerance were the order of the day. Unfortunately with Oberstown staff are required to use the softly softly approach and kid gloves with teenagers that have been through the courts multiple times and are deemed such a danger to the public that they require detention.

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    Mute Everett Gold
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 2:15 PM

    Well said mick . The motto now is “hug a thug “

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    Mute Kieran Doherty
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:42 PM

    Make them watch RTE as punishment
    After Nationwide they’ll be on their knees

    55
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    Mute Denis O Brien
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:59 PM

    more like send them to the labour conference to listen to iphone joan

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    Mute Ann O'reilly
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:44 PM

    Sadist !

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    Mute Paul Dunne
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:54 PM

    a thug probably has a name on his behavior, used to called brat but that’s not pc anymore.

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    Mute captain ireland
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:28 PM

    All I see is the words child & young person … Did Ryan tubridy write this ?

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    Mute BG
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:10 PM

    If only the kid had a gun to defend himself with. Definitely a case for legalising guns here

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    Mute Kieran Doherty
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 1:20 PM

    Send them to Putin as target practice

    27
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    Mute David Jordan
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 2:36 PM

    I wonder why 30% of the staff don’t have up to date training, could it be cut backs?

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    Mute Mick Jordan
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 3:32 PM

    David. Apart from the training that these staff receive (which is of little of little value when dealing with large violently aggressive teenagers) they are bound by a set of rules and regulations that are designed by people that have very little or no dealings with the type of criminal the Staff on the floor are confronted with.
    When was the last time a Government Minister or senior Civil Servant had to wrestle with a 6’2″ 15 stone highly aggressive and violent “Child”?

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    Mute Paul Dunne
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:50 PM

    hope the gave him a few cracks.

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    Mute Maria Conroy Byrne
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 7:13 PM

    One child was locked into a room for 83 hours 45 minutes, over a four day period. I don’t care what anyone says, that isn’t right!

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    Mute Mick Jordan
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 8:05 PM

    Maria. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that these teenagers are bright eyed fair haired little angels.
    They are vicious aggressive and dangerous scrotes. They have been sent to Oberstown as a last resort after going through the hands of multiple agencies and multiple court appearances and it has been decided that they pose such a danger to the public that they need to be incarcerated in a secure unit.
    What you need to ask is why was this youngster kept in lock down? Was he off his head on illegal narcotics? Was he a danger to staff or other Kids? And if he was any of the above and caused injury to someone would you not be asking why was he not isolated?

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    Mute Joe Humphreys
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 9:21 PM

    Full of drugs I’d imagine …. Probabally refusing to give them up . Danger of 10 or 20 been like him if let out .. Uncontrollable violent manic frenzied danger to himself and others .
    ,only one thing left or allowed to do .. After all else fails had to be done

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    Mute mrs b
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 2:34 PM

    This is surely a messed up situation. .finding it odd that majority of comments talk about ‘thugs’ etc.. no sympathy for these under 18′s for whatever may have lead them to a life in care.. It isn’t always the fault of the ‘child’ . Not to say it isn’t sometimes. . But I’ve seen firsthand where two young kids were failed numerous times by people who were educated in caring for children in care.. despite the very best efforts of foster families, these kids are walking the thin line between lawful and lawless.. They haven’t decided to be thugs per se but years of both physical & physiological torture have shaped them that way.

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    Mute AD0099
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 3:12 PM

    # Mrs B …. there is nothing in the article to say those kids are in care, they have been taken off the streets because they present a danger to the public, there are in the criminal system or remanded.

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    Mute Summer Bay Devil
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 3:57 PM

    Hugs for everyone so. Maybe you can take them in, do a Pippa on it. She had a right good track record with them. Except for Dodge. I hated Dodge.

    Who’s fault is it so? I’d be pretty sure that if you or your loved ones were assaulted or robbed by one of them you’d be singing a different tune. They’re not there for taking Hunky Dorys from Mary’s Corner Shop.

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    Mute Charles McDonald
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 8:56 PM

    Mrs b. You would make an excellent social worker. They tend to have over the top dogoodery. The child is the victim blah blah blah. What that child never had and so desperately needs is a size 12 boot up the *******

    That child was never from day one shown discipline. Once you get to the age of 5 you have learned most your ever going to learn as you are a sponge till then. Your brain forms the basis of your personality.

    It’s safe to say a 17 year old getting a kick won’t change his criminal future ut it will scare him to do something stupid again. If he does…. Consequences. That being locked in room for days on end.

    These are not nice people. There is not one who will “turn their life around” they are there because they committed multiple serious crimes and I mean multiple from rape to stealing cars to burglaries.

    The only chance they have is some serious full metal jacket boot camp training.

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    Mute Kieran Doherty
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 12:35 PM

    Spare the rod old chaps

    12
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    Mute Gis Bayertz
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 3:09 PM

    Where’s the problem?

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    Mute Peter Redmond
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    Feb 24th 2015, 12:56 AM

    This is the place that Emily Logan wanted the kids from st pats to go to because the staff were abusing them??? Might be the so called kids are just out of control, dangerous and violent???

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    Mute Andrew Brennan
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    Feb 24th 2015, 10:00 AM

    Reading the comments here it’s obvious many posters support the abuse of children. I hear the Christan Brothers are doing a recruitment drive and I’m sure they’d welcome many of the posters here. These posters idea of professional child care includes tasers, handcuffs, restraints and not a little violence.

    Perhaps these posters are on the wrong story – seems to me they arrived here ‘accidentally’ via a report on Fifty Shades of Grey !!!!

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    Mute Peter Redmond
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    Feb 24th 2015, 11:44 AM

    How would you deal with a violent 6ft, 14 stone child that is losing the rag and violently attacking a colleague of yours????
    Bear in mind that that you also have 9 more children in the room with you and maybe 1 colleague aswell????

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    Mute Andrew Brennan
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    Feb 24th 2015, 7:57 PM

    What has your question got to do with the article? Did you pick that question out of thin air or what? Do read the article and, for heaven’s sake, keep up!

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    Mute Denis Doyle
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    Feb 24th 2015, 9:57 AM

    Can we not farm out our prisoners to the Bangcock Hilton it would work out cheaper

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    Mute Thierry Ratt
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    Feb 23rd 2015, 7:20 PM

    But Fine Gael love our children like a caring mother and father???? This can’t be true

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