Court warned on detained boy's condition

A vulnerable boy with mild mental handicap is entering his sixth week in St Patrick's Institution, where he is detained alone in a basement because there is no suitable secure place available for him.

A psychiatrist told the High Court yesterday the child has voiced thoughts of suicide and his condition was worsening daily.

Mr Justice O'Donovan said the South Western Area Health Board had had five weeks to find a more suitable alternative for the child, who marked his 15th birthday in St Patrick's last month, but "don't appear to have done a whole lot".

After being told the board was "in principle" against hiring agency staff to assist the St Michael's remand and assessment centre in looking after the boy as an interim emergency measure, the judge asked why that was a problem. He also wanted the board to say if it was prepared to send its staff from its own units to St Michael's.

In the interim, and in the absence of any alternative offered, the judge said, he would direct that the boy remain at St Patrick's until next Tuesday. But, he warned it would take a lot to persuade him to detain the boy in St Patrick's beyond that.

When the boy's case was before Mr Justice Kelly last month, the judge said animals received better attention than the boy and his siblings who came from a dysfunctional home. Some siblings were in care and others were not toilet-trained by the age of nine. It was hardly surprising that the boy got into trouble with the law, becoming involved in car theft.

On that occasion, having seen reports indicating that the boy sustained serious brain injuries in a crash following a car theft incident and after being told there was no other place for the child, the judge said he would send the boy to St Patrick's. He warned this was only a short-term option. The boy had previously spent some nights in a Garda station.

When the case came before Mr Justice O'Donovan yesterday, he was told the board had identified no suitable place for the boy. It was hoping for a place in Ballydowd special care unit but was waiting for a psychiatric report which had to be furnished before his case could be considered. (In other cases, the High Court has heard it could be months before a place became available in Ballydowd, where there is a waiting list of children seeking places.)

Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, for the board, said it had been asked to provide staff to assist St Michael's in looking after the boy but it had no staff available. There was a shortage of qualified childcare staff.

Mr John O'Donnell, for the State, said there were no places in the State remand centres. He suggested the board should send its own staff to St Michael's to assist in setting up a regime there as an emergency interim measure for the boy.

Dr Ian Gargan, a child psychiatrist, said he was very disappointed with the input of the board in the case. Because the boy was below the legal age for admission to St Patrick's, he had to be kept apart from the other inmates and was alone all the time. The boy was in the isolation unit in the basement and wanted to go home. He was very frightened that he was being taken away from his mother and siblings. His mother had visited him once in the last two weeks.

None of the child's needs, apart from security, was being addressed, Dr Gargan said. The boy did not have a good relationship with his social worker. Last weekend, he had expressed thoughts of suicide.

Mr Paul McDermott SC, for the boy, asked if the child was to be left in St Patrick's indefinitely. The staff were kind but it was totally unsuitable. Nothing seemed to have been done by the board in the past five weeks to advance the situation.