The Government allocated £700,000 to the health boards this year towards providing accommodation for children at risk, but the Eastern Health Board has so far advanced no specific proposal to provide such accommodation, the High Court was told yesterday.
Mr Justice Kelly was told that the Eastern Health Board's high-support units are full at present and it was likely that the board would not be able to meet the need for such places in the next 12 months.
The court heard that places are needed at present for about 20 children before the opening of EHB units at Ballydowd in 2000 and Portrane in 2001. The numbers fluctuate, the court was told. Finding suitable accommodation is one of the greatest difficulties confronting the EHB.
Proceedings taken on behalf of a 15-year-old boy who is detained in a remand centre because there is no suitable accommodation for him opened before Mr Justice Kelly yesterday.
The boy is challenging the failure of the State to provide accommodation and services suitable to his special needs. The action resumes this afternoon.
Mr Gerry Durcan SC, for the boy, said there was a need for places for troubled children and money had been allocated. But no specific proposal had been made by the EHB to meet that need in advance of the opening of new units at Ballydowd and Portrane.
In evidence yesterday Ms Brid Clarke, of the EHB, said the board had advanced plans for a step-down facility for five to six children which, it was hoped, would open next year; £300,000 has been allocated for that facility.
An additional £700,000 was also allocated to meet the interim need for places for troubled children, she said. She believed that money was for the use of all the health boards.
She accepted that the EHB had not yet advanced a specific proposal for use of that funding, and was unaware if proposals had been made by the other boards. The senior managers of the health boards would discuss the matter at a meeting on December 7th.
Ms Clarke said the board had encountered significant problems in securing appropriate buildings and staff for high-support units. The board was in discussions with voluntary agencies, church bodies and a wide range of other groups to know if they were aware of any suitable premises.
She could not accept that there was no plan to meet the needs of the children involved.
The EHB had submitted proposals for the long-term needs of such children and the units at Ballydowd and Portrane were now proceeding.
She could not say a specific building and specific staff had been identified, but the board was working very hard.
The court was told that tenders for the building of a special care unit at Ballydowd closed on Friday and that meetings of the project team for that development would be held next week.
Plans were also being advanced for the opening of another unit at Portrane, which the High Court has directed must be opened within three years.
In a detailed confidential report not opened to the court but presented to the judge, Ms Clarke outlined these and other provisions being made by the EHB to meet the needs of children at risk. The report also specified the children needing such facilities.
In evidence, she said an arrangement had been reached between the EHB and the Salvation Army under which the latter would provide, in Dublin city centre, five to six emergency overnight places for children.
There were also plans to develop a hostel for six to eight males in north Dublin and Dublin Corporation had allocated accommodation for that purpose, she said. New appointments had also been made in the child-care area.
