A high court judge yesterday expressed alarm that the State may be reconsidering the provision of an accommodation unit for vulnerable children.
Mr Justice Kelly said he was also surprised to hear the Department of Health had engaged English and Scottish consultants - at a cost of £10,000 - to assess accommodation requirements for vulnerable children in the State.
Through sitting in the High Court Monday after Monday, and having to deal with the accommodation needs of errant minors, he would not have had the slightest difficulty in apprising the Minister of the situation, the judge said.
The State had had three years to deal with the problem and that was enough time. He estimated some 60 places would be required in the foreseeable future.
The judge was told a new £7 million, 24-bed unit is to be built this year in Ballydowd, Palmerstown, Co Dublin, but that there were planning objections to a 24-bed facility at Portrane.
There was also evidence that the Department of Health may be having second thoughts on the Portrane proposal.
Mr Justice Kelly said it was now more than three years since another High Court judge, Mr Justice Geoghegan, had declared that children in need of special care had constitutional rights and entitlements which must be addressed by the State.
The situation was so bad that on one occasion he had had to send a young man to St Patrick's Institution even though the person concerned had neither been found guilty nor even accused of any offence.
The judge said he accepted that progress, albeit slow, had been made in providing accommodation for young people. However, a few months ago, he had learned of inter-departmental wrangling over who should pay the cost of proposed new units. He was alarmed that a question mark appeared to be hanging over the Portrane 24-bed unit. While understanding planning difficulties could arise, he was concerned to hear that the entire north Dublin project might not go ahead.
The judge said it would be churlish of him were he not to recognise and pay tribute to the heroic efforts made by health board officials and workers to deal with the problems in "a stop-go fashion". The State had had enough time to tackle the accommodation problem.
He made an order directing that, within 14 days of delivery of the decision by An Bord Pleanala on the proposed Portrane facility, the matter of the extra 24 beds should be brought before him with a view to hearing evidence or submissions as to how such a unit might be provided and funded.