Naughten highlights missing minors

ALMOST 50 unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Ireland went missing from State care last year, according to Denis Naughten, Fine Gael’s spokesman on immigration and integration.

Mr Naughten said only nine of the 47 migrant children in State care who went missing in 2009 were traced by authorities. “This leaves 38 children who have disappeared into thin air,” he said.

“It goes on unnoticed around us and at least some of the 38 children who were unaccounted for in 2009 have been forced into the exploitation industry.”

A spokeswoman for the HSE has told The Irish Times: "It has been unsubstantiated that any of the children who go missing from HSE care have been trafficked."

Labour Party Senator Ivana Bacik said she was concerned at reports of HSE figures showing 501 unaccompanied children seeking asylum went missing between 2000 and 2009.