Canadian childcare workers recruited by a health board last year to work in a Co Dublin high-security unit had to ask their families in Canada to support them financially because work permits had not been obtained for them.
The 14 Canadians had been recruited as part of an international drive by the South Western Area Health Board to find staff for the Ballydowd childcare centre.
The incident is revealed in a report on Ballydowd by the Social Services Inspectorate. The report found the unit was in crisis early this year, that staff felt unsupported by the health board and that there were high rates of assaults on staff. Nevertheless, many staff felt positive about their work with young people.
In a passage critical of the use of secure units for troubled young people, the inspectorate says that "the expectation that Ballydowd is or can be the answer to the problems of all the very troubled young people that present themselves as in need of the care and protection of the health boards is unrealistic."
The South Western Area Health Board says it agrees with this view and that Ballydowd should only be used for those for whom is it appropriate. The SWAHB, which asked that the inspection be carried out, "fully accepts the shortcomings found at the centre by the SSI at the time the inspection was carried out," a statement issued on behalf of the chief executive officer of the health board, Mr Pat Donnelly, said.
Most of the recommendations in the report have already been implemented, he said.
Describing the plight of the Canadian childcare workers, the report says that "when the Canadians arrived in Ireland they found that, contrary to undertakings they had been given, work permits had not been obtained for them. This meant that they could not be paid. Some were able to help each other out financially for a time. Others had to access savings or appeal to their families in Canada for money."
After a time, some payments were made but this placed the Canadians in an "invidious" position because they were not legally entitled to do paid work without work permits. All had been appointed to permanent posts but, months later, none of them had been given a permanent contract and six resigned.
Some of the Canadians were unhappy about the induction training programme which, in some cases, consisted of being "sent to an empty accommodation unit and told to read the policies and procedures document." Other workers were not being paid the correct salaries and spent their days off trying unsuccessfully to sort out the matter with Eastern Health Shared Services, which handles employee services for the health boards in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow.
By the start of this year, staff found themselves in a vicious circle. "Numerous staff had resigned. Others were off sick, some as a result of assaults by young people."
Staff "became locked in an unhealthy cycle where they became tired and stressed due to the pressure of too much work and too little rest. Most of those interviewed eventually succumbed and had to take sick leave."
But "for all the difficulties that staff members had experienced, those interviewed by inspectors were positive about their work."