Inspectors investigating the running of a residential child care centre in Co Wicklow, from which a 15-year-old girl absconded and died of a heroin overdose, were urged three months ago to shut the unit, it has emerged.
The plea came from the parents of a Dublin child who spent several months in Newtown House, formerly Trudder House, between 1998 and 1999 and who had befriended Kim O'Donovan. Kim was missing from the home for nearly a month before she was found dead last August in a Dublin B & B. She died of a drugs overdose.
The parents, who do not wish their names to be published, were interviewed for up to five hours by the Social Services Inspectorate during its investigations into the running of the home. They have confirmed they urged the inspectorate, during the interview three months ago, to shut Newtown House. However, as reported in The Irish Times on Friday, the home has since been closed by the East Coast Area Health Board while its role is being reviewed. No troubled children have been cared for at Newtown House since December.
The East Coast Area Health Board said Newtown was no longer required for troubled children as a new 24-bed unit had opened at Ballydowd in Co Dublin. However, a spokesman said the role of the home was being reviewed. The inspectorate's report into the running of Newtown House was due to be published on Friday, but a spokeswoman confirmed yesterday it would be delayed.
The family interviewed in the course of the investigations had sought an inquiry into the running of Newtown House long before Kim's death. They wrote to the then Minister of State for children, Mr Frank Fahey, in August 1999 seeking an investigation and also asked his successor, Ms Mary Hanafin, to order an investigation. She acceded to their request just days before Kim was found dead.
The family had also voiced their concerns in the High Court about the running of the centre. They had been advised their son, a victim of sexual abuse, would receive appropriate treatment at the unit but they believed this was not happening.
They had also been led to believe that it was a secure unit, but at one stage their son absconded from Newtown House and was missing for some time.
A second inquiry will begin in the High Court next month.