A High Court judge yesterday ordered that a 14-yearold boy be detained in St Patrick's Institution, Dublin, because there was no secure place available for him for another week.
Mr Justice Kelly said it gave him no pleasure to have to send the boy to St Patrick's, which was designed for older boys, but he was driven to do so because of the boy's situation.
The boy has absconded several times from an assessment unit and his mother was anxious that he should go into a secure location from which he could not abscond, the judge was told.
Mr Bill Shipsey SC, for the boy, said that the family was receiving threats from persons describing themselves as vigilantes in relation to the boy's car-stealing activities.