Three Government ministers and a health board have been warned by a High Court judge they will be held in contempt of court if they don't make available a safe and secure place for an extremely disturbed girl. He said this place had to be available immediately after she was located, following her escape from a therapeutic unit.
The 17-year-old girl has been at large since October 13th and a warrant has been issued directing gardai to search for, arrest and detain her.
Regarded as extreme high risk, the girl has twice attempted to hang herself and earlier this year tried to set herself on fire.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Kelly said he was ordering the health board responsible for the girl's welfare and the Ministers for Justice, Health and Education, each of whom had a responsibility for some element of childcare, to find a secure place for the girl.
With all the resources available to the ministers and health board, it should not be beyond their reach to find a place for a single 17-year-old girl, albeit with the sort of problems she had, the judge said.
His order would apply immediately and he would regard failure to comply as amounting to contempt of court. The matter is to be raised in court again within 48 hours of the girl either voluntarily giving herself up or being found by the Garda. The judge refused an application by the State for a stay on his order but said the matter could be raised before him today.
Mr Justice Kelly said he was at his "wits' end" to find a place for the girl and had neither the resources nor the back-up to help him in this task. The case was the most difficult of all the children's cases that had come before him.
He said the girl, born when her mother was just 15, has indulged in prostitution, taken a range of drugs including ecstasy, speed, hash and heroin, sniffed up to a dozen light fuel cartridges a day, consumed a bottle of spirits a day and was the victim of sexual abuse when she was just 10 years old. She has also had a miscarriage and made a number of attempts at self-mutilation.
Hers was an extremely tragic history. She had been rejected by her mother, who now lived abroad, and had been placed in foster care. Her father lived in this country but had little contact with her.
She had a number of half-brothers and sisters, some of whom were in care, and with whom she had little contact.
As a child, she was subjected to sexual abuse, and by the time she was 10 her foster care had ended. The girl complained that her foster mother abused her by severely physically punishing her.
After that, she was taken into care. Had she received the treatment that had been recommended for her by a child psychiatrist four years ago, it was doubtful she would now be in the position in which she found herself, the judge said.
The case was again before Mr Justice Kelly yesterday via an application by the health board for the court to direct that the girl's identity be revealed to the public to help locate her and return her to a care environment.
After hearing evidence from a consultant child psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist that there were risks that the girl might be pushed further into anti-social activities, or even take her life, if her identity was disclosed, he rejected the application.
When the girl had heard an earlier court report which dealt anonymously with her case, she became extremely distressed, the judge was told.
Mr Justice Kelly ordered that nothing be reported from yesterday's proceedings which might identify the girl, the health board or those attending her.