MRS B has a 15 year old daughter who has voluntarily gone into a health board residential care unit. She believes her daughter is involved in prostitution and the health board and gardai know about this.
She says the problem began last year when her daughter ran away to England. "I went to the guards... and I got her back and we went to the social workers after that. There wasn't much they could do. She's been running away from home at night, weekends, staying away ... and when you ask the health board they say they can't force her to go back. She's only 15 years of age."
Mrs B says there are other teenagers involved. "There's a rake of them doing it; the health board knows about it and they told me they told the guards about it. She has been seen getting in and out of cars and I've told the social worker, but I still get no satisfaction. She told me the guards were going to do something. I don't see the guards doing something.
Her daughter admits getting into cars with friends, but denies prostitution. However, she says she has friends who are involved, and she has been approached by a number of young women in Dundalk who are believed to have got Mrs A's son involved.
She says that the teenagers involved would be afraid to admit it because they, rather than the men who solicit them, would be blamed.