The Dublin Children's Court was told yesterday that a boy, now aged 17, had lived on the streets after fleeing from his parents and their alcohol addiction and then himself developed an addiction to heroin.
He had "slipped through the system" and social services had difficulty trying to help him.
He was detained for two months yesterday by Judge Angela Ní Chonduin for a litany of petty crimes committed while he was living rough.
At the age of 13 the boy had fled to the streets in Dublin to get away from his turbulent home life, which had been devastated by his parents' alcoholism. However, while on the streets he too developed a drinking problem. This led to him becoming a heroin addict and because of his itinerant lifestyle, social services had difficulty finding him.
Garda Emer Lamont, of the Bridewell Garda station, outlined to the court how the boy had been involved in a litany of petty street crimes. She accepted that his offending was linked to his troubled background and his drink and heroin addiction.
The boy had pleaded guilty to a number of offences, theft, begging, being drunk and disorderly and causing criminal damage, dating from January 2003 until February this year.
In mitigation, defence counsel Ms Fiona Pekaar outlined how the teenager left school when he was 13, had lived a vagrant lifestyle and developed a heroin addiction. "He has had a long and convoluted history and has been involved with health boards and social workers," she said.
"When he was 13 his parents were alcoholics to such an extent that he left home and lived on the streets until June 2001. Then he came to the attention of social services and was placed in the Ballydowd Special Care Unit where he did training in carpentry and mechanics." He was then placed on a training programme in Cork but that arrangement broke down because he missed his brother and sister and decided to return to Dublin against the advice of care workers, Ms Pekaar said.
After his return to Dublin he lived briefly with his grandmother but started abusing heroin in November 2002. At this stage his father started to come in and out of his life again causing more conflict for the boy. He then left his grandmother's home and returned to the streets.
Judge Angela Ní Chonduin ordered that the teenager should receive help for his addiction while in custody in St Patrick's Institution and that after his release he be kept under the supervision of the Probation and Welfare Service for the next two years.