A residential childcare centre in Co Wicklow, under scrutiny since a 15-year-old girl absconded and died from a heroin overdose, has been shut down while its role is reviewed.
It has emerged that no children have stayed at Newtown House in Newtownmountkennedy, a centre run by the East Coast Area Health Board, since December. Newtown House, formerly Trudder House, had capacity for eight troubled children.
The high-support unit cared for 15-year-old Kim O'Donovan before she absconded and was found dead in a Dublin city-centre B&B on August 24th, almost a month later. Several other children have absconded since then.
News that the unit has no children in its care comes days before details of a Social Services Inspectorate report into how the house was run is to be published. The investigation was carried out at the request of Ms Mary Hanafin, Minister of State for children.
Mr Victor McElfatrick, acting director of the Social Services Inspectorate, yesterday said the report would say Newtown House was not a suitable building for troubled children as it was not purpose-built. It also had staffing problems, and all these issues had a bearing on difficulties at the centre, he said.
A spokesman for the East Coast Area Health Board confirmed the high-support unit's role was being reviewed by Newtown House staff and a project team, to map out a future role for the home.
Since another high-support unit had opened at Ballydowd, Co Dublin, Newtown House was no longer needed for high-support care, he said, and investigations by the Social Services Inspectorate and the High Court into how Newtown House was run were not the reasons for discontinuing to use it for troubled children, he said.
There are 24 beds at Ballydowd but it has not been operating at full capacity due to staff shortages.
When Kim O'Donovan absconded from Newtown House a warrant was issued by Mr Justice Kelly in the High Court, directing gardai to return her to the unit. Three weeks later she was found dead.
In October Mr Justice Kelly ordered a separate High Court inquiry into the Newtown House operation when the girl escaped and what steps the Garda took to search for her.
The inquiry was to begin in December but was postponed to February 20th on an application from the health board, which said it needed time to prepare affidavits and find relevant witnesses.
The adoptive parents of Kim O'Donovan told the High Court their child had received "ineffective care within a system which failed her [and them] drastically".
Last July, advised of Kim's pending release, her adoptive parents expressed strong reservations to the board. The board had no care plan for Kim, nor was a psychiatric evaluation available, they claimed.