Children in care home at centre of protests by residents

"Get out or be put out scum" proclaims a graffito on the ground outside a residential home for children and teenagers seven miles outside Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

Locals in the townland of Killadeas say the message was painted before the young people moved into Brindley House, and attempts have been made to scrub the white paint off the tarmac, but the words are still visible.

The sounds of pop music and young people's voices can be heard from the upstairs rooms of the two-storey building in a secluded residential area near one of the most scenic parts of lower Lough Erne, just off the main Enniskillen-Kesh road.

The home can accommodate up to eight young people between 12 and 18. Groups of between 10 and 15 local people have held protests outside the private facility since it opened in the spring, sometimes twice a week, claiming they were misled about the redevelopment plans for the former guest house.

When notices of an application for planning permission appeared in newspapers, describing the building's proposed redevelopment as a "residential home", local people say they understood the building would become an old people's home.

Ms Darina Donnelly, co-director of Care Northern Ireland Ltd, the company that owns the home, said a campaign of "misinformation and innuendo" had been spread about the children in Brindley House.

She said the children were from various backgrounds. Some were "troubled" and had not been able to live in their own homes for a variety of reasons. It was hoped that most could be returned to their families but, if this was not possible, they would be helped to live independently.

Referring to the protests outside the home, Ms Donnelly said: "Anyone living in a normal domestic environment would be upset. So far the children have handled it and managed extremely well. I must say we are very proud of them. They have remained very calm."

However, Ms Diana Armstrong, who has attended some of the protests, insisted that local people were not told that a home for "troubled" children was being established in Killadeas until after planning permission had been granted. Ms Armstrong is secretary of the Killadeas Residents' Association.

She said residents found out in March that the Brindley House children would include some with emotional disorders, including inappropriate sexual behaviour and destructiveness, as well as children who had committed petty criminal offences.

"We have studied other children's homes and we know the problems of joyriding and other young people being attracted to the home," she said.

Ms Armstrong said the planners, the Western Health and Social Services Board (WHSSB) and the local health trust, the Sperrin Lakeland Trust, had not informed the public about the exact nature of the facility until it was too late to complain.

"Residents are protesting against the actions of the company [Care NI Ltd] and the collusion of the WHSSB and the Sperrin Lakeland Trust in pushing the development through without the knowledge of local people."

A Department of the Environment planning service spokesman said the Department had no control over the type of person in care in a particular facility.

"No one was misled. The application was correctly advertised. The use of a residential home can include use for any residential purpose, including a home for people in care."

A Sperrin Lakeland Trust spokeswoman said the trust expected to place children in Brindley House from time to time. She said the development of specialist services for children in the area was welcome, as until recently the trust could only access services in Belfast or other places far from the homes of local children.

She said she was aware of the concerns of local people but hoped "purposeful relationships" could be established between the home and local community.

A woman who lives nearby but has not been involved in protests, Ms Rhonda Clark, said: "No harm to the children, I've children myself, but it's the way they went about it and led everyone to believe it was an old people's home. I wouldn't let my own children up or down the road on their own."

At least one local resident has written anonymously to the Fermanagh Herald newspaper disassociating herself from the actions of the Killadeas Residents' Association.

Mr Bert Johnston, a local DUP councillor, said he defended the residents' right to peaceful protest. "They just stand there a couple of days a week just for an hour or so. It's very low-key." He said residents were worried that the "stigma" of the home being located in the area could affect tourism and property values.

"There is a need for such places, but the people of Killadeas feel their area isn't the area."