BY THE end of the decade the Eastern Health Board will have all its social work resources "soaked up" by meeting child protection Deeds, a conference organised by the Children's Legal Centre was told yesterday.
Speaking at a conference on the Children Bill 1996, Prof Norman Tutt, an expert in management and planning of residential care services for children, predicted the State's eight health boards would come under "tremendous pressure".
Prof Tutt, who has just completed an evaluation of child-care needs, and the resources required to meet those needs in the EHB area, said referrals from the EHB had risen from 150 three years ago to 600 last year.
"We worked out that if that rate of referral continues, the board will be overwhelmed by the year 2000," he said. Because of the sensitive nature of these referrals, it is inevitable that these cases will be given a priority, he said. "Young people coming from Garda referrals for relatively trivial offences will not be dealt with."
Under the terms of the Bill, under-age children who are thought to have offended will be referred to the health board for assistance and action where it is not practicable for the child to be taken to a parent or guardian.
The health boards will come under pressure due to the failures in planning, which have produced discrepancies in the numbers of social workers trained, and staffing requirements of employers.
"These mean a critical situation for the child-care services provided by the boards, and even though they may be willing to take on new and additional responsibilities, serious questions exist about their capacity to do so," he said.
Prof Tutt said it was heartening that when faced by the need to update the 1908 Children Act, Ireland had chosen to look throughout the world for approaches to youth crime which can be shown to work and offer hopes of successful prevention and reintegration of youth offenders rather than merely adopt the repressive views of nearer neighbours".
Overall, he welcomed the Bill which has completed its second stage in the Dail. He said it was a pity the radical stance adopted at the division stage, which allows for a range of "cautions" for a child who has committed an offence as well as provision for calling family conferences, was not carried throughout the Bill to present a more progressive future for the children of Ireland.
But Ms Mary Ellen Ring, chairwoman of the Children's Legal Centre, said she had reservations about the family conferences which would be called by a Garda liaison officer.
"Some families just do not have a respect for the law, including the gardai. It might be better to involve non-Garda people, such as trusted community workers, who would engender confidence."
She said that yesterday's conference, attended by a cross-section of people, many who would be involved in its implementation, and those working in Government Departments, can still be changed.
"There are 230 sections to this Bill making it one of the biggest pieces of legislation in a long time. People are generally very happy to get legislation in this area considering the last Bill was introduced in 1908," Ms Ring said.