The role of a children's residential centre in Co Wicklow, under scrutiny since a 15-yearold girl absconded from it and was found dead of a heroin overdose, is still being reviewed seven months after the centre was closed to children for the review to start.
Newtown House, a high-support unit run by the East Coast Area Health Board, shut its doors to troubled children last December, but staff were kept on to undertake a review of the centre's role.
A spokesman for the health board confirmed yesterday that the review was still not complete and staff were continuing to work on it. He said their report was due shortly.
The centre was investigated by the Irish Social Services Inspectorate on the orders of the Minister of State for Children, Ms Mary Hanafin.
The report, published in February, found that only a few of the staff held suitable qualifications and the building was unsuitable for the purpose to which it was being put.
It was also critical of the use of physical restraint and noted that one boy in the centre had had his leg broken while being restrained.
In addition it found staff never posted to Mr Justice Kelly of the High Court a letter written to him four months before her death by 15-year-old Kim O'Donovan, the girl who absconded from the centre a year ago this month and was found dead nearly a month later in a Dublin city centre B & B.
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that the inspectorate advised the board last November that it would be wise to defer admission of any further children to the centre until issues raised in its draft report had been considered.
In March a separate High Court inquiry into the circumstances of Kim O'Donovan's escape and the steps taken to find her was held over seven days before Mr Justice Kelly. Staff, including the manager, Ms Sheelagh Murtagh, gave evidence.
Ms Murtagh said Newtown House was not suitable for the detention of seriously disturbed children, and staffing the unit had been a most difficult task. Mr Justice Kelly has yet to deliver his findings.
The East Coast Area Health Board has said repeatedly it never intended Newtown House to be a high-support unit, but the decision to change its original purpose as a specialised group home for younger children was "forced upon the board" by the courts.