AN INTERNAL report by the Health Service Executive into the death of a teenage boy while in the care of the State is understood to highlight a series of failures in the child protection system.
David Foley from Clondalkin in Dublin died three years ago from a suspected drugs overdose.
He had voluntarily sought care from the State at the age of 14, but ended up getting involved in drugs and crime after an extended period in emergency care, known as the "out of hours" system.
Sources familiar with aspects of the report say lapses in care are attributed to a dispute between community care areas over who was responsible for the boy's care.
Healthcare professionals say he should have been placed in more suitable community-based care, or that family support services should have acted to enable him to live at home or in his community.
Minister for Children Barry Andrews is expected to receive a copy of the report this week.
He said in the Dáil last week that while he did not wish to pre-empt the findings, it was clear the boy was failed by the system. It was "unacceptable" to have to wait three years for the report, he said.
"When a child dies in the care of the State, there is no question that he has been failed in some way. Through this inquiry, we must establish how he was failed and make sure it does not happen again," Mr Andrews said.
"The findings will be outlined in this report, as well as a chronology of the issues that gave rise to him being in care and any gaps that may have occurred."
Fine Gael's spokesman on children Alan Shatter TD said it was clear the boy had been "scandalously failed by the State", and called for the report to be published without delay. He noted deficiencies in a report published last summer that highlighted failures in implementing child protection guidelines across the State.
"The Children First guidelines on child protection have now been in place for almost 10 years. Yet the Government has scandalously and objectively failed to ensure that we have a uniform application of the child protection guidelines throughout the State," he said.
"It is unacceptable that a report published last July, almost 10 years after these guidelines were put in place, refers to the absence of consistency in the delivery of child welfare and protection services across the State, and to the absence of any standards against which the delivery of services can be benchmarked."
Mr Andrews said he was unable to say whether the report into the death of David Foley would be published until he examined it.
