SOCIAL WORKERS say homeless children and teenagers are at risk since the closure of two emergency care hostels for children in Dublin’s north inner city in recent days.
The Health Service Executive has confirmed that two residential centres it operated in the city for homeless boys and girls aged between 12 and 18 have been closed.
Emergency care, or the “out-of-hours” service, provides hostel-type beds for homeless young people for up to three months until more suitable accommodation is found.
The HSE said the two centres which provided accommodation for about 20 young people did not meet national childcare standards and it had been advised by the Social Services Inspectorate to find alternative accommodation.
Authorities are planning to open a more modern eight-bed unit on the grounds of St Ita’s psychiatric hospital in Portrane, Co Dublin, some 15 miles from the city centre.
However, this is expected to take several weeks before it is completed.
In a statement, the HSE did not say when the new centre would open, except to say children would not be left on the streets.
“This move has been planned for over a year. The HSE are confident that there will be no diminution in service.
“During the transition to the new facility, services will continue to be provided and the needs of young people will be met,” the statement said.
But children’s rights campaigner Fr Peter McVerry said it was inevitable that young people at risk would end up homeless as a result of the move.
He said the number of out-of-hours beds will reduce from about 20 to eight and that significant numbers were likely to refuse to move so far out of the city.
“Decisions on placing children in out-of-hours will be made for children based on the number of beds available rather than the needs of the child,” Fr McVerry said.
“As a result, children will be told to go home to parents or their community, even if it’s not safe for them to do so.”
Fr McVerry also expressed concern that children aged between 12 and 18 would end up mixing in the new unit in Portrane.
This is in contrast to the current system where younger children are accommodated in a different unit.
For example, St Jude’s, which has now closed, provided emergency beds for 12- to 15-year-olds. Parkview, which has also closed, typically accommodated young people aged from 16 to 18 years of age.
“It’s not good practice to mix children at this age. The last thing you want is a 12-year-old hanging around with an 18-year-old who’s involved in drugs,” Fr McVerry said.
He added: “If this transition was planned for the past year, why is there also a six-week delay until the opening of the new facility?”
In a previous statement, the HSE said the move would not leave homeless children on the streets of Dublin and was in line with its aim of not having all homeless services centralised in the city centre, as young people using these services come from various city suburbs.
