irish sexoffender's List: Child Detention Children in Care Ireland

A VULNERABLE child sent by the Health Service Executive to a secure unit in Scotland could technically leave and be wandering alone around Scotland because of the lack of a legal basis for his detention, according to a solicitor who acts for such children.

Catherine Ghent was commenting on the implications of a recent ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which found that there was no legal basis for the detention of troubled and vulnerable Irish children in secure units in the UK, where a number have been sent by the HSE because there are no suitable facilities for them in this State.

Earlier this month, the HSE told the High Court it was seeking to regularise the legal status of the children being detained in such centres. Seven children are being detained in two centres, one centre in England and one in Scotland, the court was told.