The 18-year-old brother of the torture and rape victim who, The Irish Times revealed yesterday, has been homeless for months, was also homeless while in the care of the Eastern Health Board, it has emerged.
The girl's father was jailed last week for torturing, raping and mutilating her and her mother. This newspaper revealed yesterday that she had nowhere to live though she was in touch with social workers on a daily basis. Yesterday, Father Peter McVerry said her 18-year-old brother was "sleeping on the streets".
Meanwhile, the Northern Area Health Board (NAHB) says it has found "suitable long-term accommodation" for his 16-year-old sister. It is currently in the process of securing the necessary staff and supports.
Sources said the brother and sister had to be given emergency accommodation as they had nowhere to stay. Since the brother became 18, he has been offered bed-and-breakfast accommodation and other adult services.
The Northern Area Health Board - one of three health boards under the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) - yesterday denied categorically that it had neglected his sister.
It said that counselling services had been made available to the girl. A care plan had been devised for her by social workers and she had been placed in a number of long-term residential accommodation arrangements last year. "Unfortunately, these arrangements broke down earlier this year," it said in a statement. "Since then the board has continued to work with her and had placed her in emergency hostel accommodation on a nightly basis, as it was not possible to arrange appropriate long-term accommodation of her choice."
Father McVerry, who had highlighted the girl's case, said yesterday that he accepted "without hesitation" the dedication and commitment of her social workers. "My criticism is with the child care structure," he said.
The family should have been kept together, but instead was "scattered", Father McVerry said. It should have been given safe, supportive accommodation with therapeutic services for the family, but such accommodation did not exist.
The girl had been placed in unsuitable accommodation for homeless young people, Father McVerry said. "How do you counsel someone who has been through the most appalling trauma and who is being further traumatised by having no place to live?" he asked.
The NAHB denied that it had found a place for the girl only in response to yesterday's publicity and said it was "outraged" by Father McVerry's allegation to this effect.
"We have been actively working for and on behalf of this child and other family members for a long period," it said.
New services have been opened for children in the ERHA region in the past year and more facilities would come on stream this year, it said.
email: pomorain@irish-times.ie