Three Romanian boys aged between 14 and 16 years managed to come to Ireland and live in an apartment in Dublin without either identification documents or the authorities knowing, a court has heard.
The three boys were said to be in Ireland without any parents or guardians and had no residency status here.
They appeared before the Dublin Children's Court yesterday after their arrest for allegedly stealing €240 at Haddington Road, Dublin, on June 19th.
The court heard that the boys had been living in a city-centre apartment, occupied by children only, for nearly two months. The authorities had been unaware of their presence in Ireland.
Judge Thomas Fitzpatrick was told that one of the boys had been in the process of interviews with the Garda National Immigration Bureau. However, the other two had no status in Ireland, and the Garda National Immigration Bureau had no record of them being in the country.
The three boys did not have identification documents. Nor was it fully known how long they had been here. When questioned by gardaí they provided a home address in Dublin. On further investigation, gardaí found that this address related to a city-centre apartment in which a number of juveniles had been living.
Gardaí were told, by one of the occupants of the flat, that the three teenagers had been residing with them there for nearly two months.
Gardaí also found a 17-year-old foreign national in the apartment who claimed to be a friend of the three boys. "There was no sign of any adult. It seems to be all juveniles," one garda told the court.
Of the three Romanians, Judge Fitzpatrick said: "They do not appear to have permanent ties or status here at all."
He remanded all three in custody for a week to allow the Garda to continue to investigate their backgrounds.
The two 16-year-olds were remanded to St Patrick's Institution while the 14-year-old was held in the Trinity House Detention Centre.