Treatment Of 15-Year Old Dubliner In German Prison Is Intolerable

25 June 2001

by Cllr Joe Costello

Labour senator, Joe Costello, has expressed concern over the conditions in which a 15 year old boy is being held in a Geman prison.The boy, who went to Munich at the beginning of this month to play football with his team mates from East Wall, was arrested and incarcerated following an incident at a disco. A 17-year old youth, who had travelled with him, is also being held in relation to the incident.“While nobody is disputing that an incident did occur, I an deeply concerned about the conditions in which the 15-year old boy, in particular, is being detained. He is being held in an adult prison and is unable to telephone home, A juvenile of that age could not be legally incarcerated in a prison here in Ireland and would not be debarred from communicating with his parents Nor, for that matter, would the 17 year old boy who was with him. ““To further compound this, the boys families are not allowed to communicate by telephone either and they have been told that, if they come to Germany, they will only get a 15 minute visit.”“After I raised this issue in the Seanad yesterday with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, I was informed that an official from the Irish Embassy in Germany will visit these boys on June 19th. However, I believe that this visit should have taken place as soon as the authorities here were made aware of the situation on dune 6th.”“An intolerable level of tardiness has characterised the manner in which this case has been dealt with, both from the point of view of the German and Irish authorities. Apart from the slowness in which the Irish Embassy appears to have reacted, the German judge who is presiding over this case has riot scheduled another hearing until June 25th. This is totally unacceptable in view of the fact that a is year old boy is involved.”