THE problem of teenage prostitution in Dundalk will be discussed by the North Eastern Health Board today. A report prepared for the board by a special committee described teenage prostitution in the town as "a very real and urgent problem".
The NEHB will be considering whether to implement the committee's recommendations, including the establishment of a centre to help teenagers at risk from "abusive sexual exploitation", drug abuse and criminal activity; a health clinic, and a secure accommodation unit for runaways.
Gardai monitoring the problem are understood to have identified up to four men who regularly visit an area in the centre of the town at weekends, where it is alleged young people engaged in prostitution gather. In the first such case in Dundalk, a man was arrested for allegedly procuring a male for prostitution earlier this month. It is believed charges will be brought soon against several other individuals.
Committee members fear that as the number of vulnerable children continues to rise, so will those entering prostitution. They say the number of youngsters involved in prostitution has risen from three to 12 over the last year.
The committee has already secured £2,500 from the EU's Peace and Reconciliation Fund to research the problem. This will be used to see a scheme in Bradford, which deals specifically with young people involved in prostitution.
The proposals currently before the NEHB will cost just under £220,000. This would pay the lease on premises, and wages for four co-workers, a project leader and an administrator. The cost of running a health clinic and three part-time staff for it are not included.
The NEHB has already funded visits to four projects in London and Edinburgh, and what was learned from these formed the basis of the proposals submitted to the board for funding, according to a committee member, Ms Alice Malone, from Louth Youth Federation.
"In addition funding will also be needed to provide safe and secure accommodation, that is separate from the project centre. We do not want the project to become a residential unit and we want the accommodation to be outside the town," Ms Malone said.
The deputy chief executive officer of the health board, Dr Ambrose McLoughlin, confirmed the board would also favour the development of an "outreach" project, which "would be a crash pad for adolescents in crisis. This facility will probably include street outreach workers and other staff who will work at community levels with these young people, and will offer services in a relevant and non-threatening way".
A list with the names of 11 teenagers identified by the committee as "at risk" has been given to the health board. The NEHB has few units for "out of control" young people, but even for those the teenager must want to go voluntarily.
A young boy, who was identified as being involved in male prostitution, was last week placed in a voluntary residential unit in Newry, Co Down, at a cost of £700 a week. A similar place in Britain would have cost £1,200 a week.
The need for suitable accommodation to deal with such teenagers was highlighted last week by the decision of District Judge Flann Brennan to remand a 16-year-old girl to Mountjoy for a week. The girl has been living on the streets of Dundalk at times because of her refusal to stay at home or accommodation arranged by the health board.