The Government has agreed an allocation of £2 million to help provide emergency accommodation for the growing number of homeless and vulnerable children who are begging and living on the streets of Dublin. Until now, the State has made no provision for housing homeless children found wandering in Dublin after 5 p.m., when social service offices close. The children normally sleep rough or make their way to Garda stations, where they sleep in cells. Some go to hospital emergency units.
The problem was raised at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) earlier this year. The AGSI representative from Kilmainham told the conference that it was almost a nightly occurrence for boys to come in off the streets and be given accommodation in Garda stations.
In the last month further details of the plight of the homeless were published in The Irish Times. Homeless boys in the city are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and there are suspicions that paedophile rings have been preying on many of them.
In a statement yesterday, the Minister for State for Health, Mr Frank Fahey, announced the initiative to give £2 million to the Eastern Health Board to provide emergency accommodation for homeless children.
He said the initiative would immediately provide an emergency residential care centre for children under 12. The intention, he said, was for this centre to be "operational on a 24-hour basis and will provide a workable alternative to social admissions to hospitals".
There is to be a "day-and-night reception centre" in Dublin city centre to allow young homeless people access to health board services. This centre will have a small number of emergency overnight beds.
The Government is to seek planning permission for two units which will cater for up to 48 children with "emotional and behavioural difficulties".
Mr Fahey added: "As Minister of State with special responsibility for children, I am conscious of the need for practicality, not platitudes. I am determined to secure the necessary resources to meet the needs of homeless children, both in Dublin and other health board areas."