An angry District Court judge criticised the South Eastern Health Board yesterday for its attitude to a 14-year-old girl with severe behavioural problems. The board had recommended the girl be sent to a place of criminal detention.
Judge William Harnett said he was horrified at the views of Mr Vincent Daly, social work team leader in Waterford city, who insisted the girl, who has no criminal convictions, be sent to a place of detention rather than returned to Grange Mor, the health board's secure unit for juveniles in the city.
The girl had already been remanded to Oberstown Detention Centre in Co Dublin for two weeks after she was charged with assaulting staff members at the unit.
Mr Daly claimed she had caused £1,300 in damage to the residents, had assaulted staff and gardai and on a number of occasions had to be hospitalised. However, the management at Oberstown did not believe it was a suitable place for her.
Mr Daly stated that if the court insisted on returning the girl to Grange Mor it would be purely a matter of containment until an alternative could be found.
"It is not the court's business to listen to the whinings of the health boards, it is our function to make an order in the best interests of the child and no one else. I am horrified that it is your view that this can only be a period of containment", said Judge Harnett. "That is intolerable. It would not happen in any civilised society anywhere in Western Europe, and it is appalling that this is what you are saying to this court."
Mr Daly stood by his assertion that it would come down to containment. "All the professionals on our staff have said they cannot work with her unless she is stabilised," he said. Judge Harnett said he had to consider what was best for the girl and remanded her to Oberstown for one week.
"I want to hear from these professionals as to why the South Eastern Health Board is recommending that a 14-yearold child be detained in Oberstown when the management there have said it is an unsuitable environment for her," he concluded.