The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, last night defended the Government's record on the provision of residential accommodation for young people, following Opposition allegations of neglect of the care system after the death of 15-year-old Kim O'Donovan.
Both Fine Gael and Labour strongly criticised the gaps in the provision of care and drug facilities and claimed the death of the teenager was a result of the Government's failure to meet the needs of marginalised youth.
Mr Martin rejected the claims and said £60 million had been spent by the Government since it came into office on the development of child care services. The Minister told The Irish Times that while he was satisfied Kim was in the appropriate place of care before she absconded, he said he was "seriously concerned" that she was not traced for a month after she went missing. He said he had asked the Eastern Region Health Board (ERHB) and the Garda for separate reports on the case within a week.
Mr Martin said he received a provisional report yesterday evening. It charted the girl's history and progress and showed the health board had been working towards developing a discharge programme for her.
The Minister said his Department had approved health board proposals to develop 110 additional high-support and special care places nationally.
As part of this programme 10 places had been added in the South Eastern Health Board, five high-support places in the Mid-Western Health Board, and an eight-place unit for girls had been opened in the Southern Health Board. There were a further two places in a special care facility in the Southern Health Board.
The 110-place programme will cost about £30 million, with an annual cost of £12 million, he pointed out. Mr Martin said objections from local communities had in some cases hindered the development of units. "It is frustrating when resources are being made available and there are objections from the community. There is a societal responsibility in this regard."
The Fine Gael spokesman on justice, equality and law reform, Mr Alan Shatter, said yesterday that throughout the Government's lifetime, the country had witnessed a succession of court cases brought on behalf of young people which resulted in unprecedented judicial criticism of the Government's failure.
"The sad and poignant death of the 15-year-old girl in a Dublin bed and breakfast on Wednesday is a tragic consequence of the Government's failure to meet the needs of marginalised young teenagers. How many more deaths will take place before the residential facilities and professional back-up services so badly required are put in place?" Mr Shatter asked how much more public money would be wasted by the Minister for Health and Children in defending the indefensible before the High Court while teenage children continue to suffer and wander the streets at risk of addiction and death.
The Labour Party spokeswoman on education and children, Ms Roisin Shortall, called on the Garda to state what actions officers took in their effort to track down the 15-year-old girl. She said the tragedy was yet another indictment of the care system and drug treatment facilities.
"The reality is that since the economic boom really took hold, there has been a huge increase in the number of young people living on our streets who are drug-dependent, homeless and often dependent on prostitution for a living. It seems that the more the national purse expands, the will to help these young people diminishes," she said.