Teens face jail as there are no care facilities

TROUBLED teenagers may have to be sent to jail because of a lack of services in residential care institutions.

Resident Managers Association chairman Andrew Meaney claimed that in one case in Co Wicklow, a teenager’s probation officer has recommended that he be jailed for past transgressions rather than face homelessness.

The teenager, who has spent years in care, also has an alcohol problem and turns 20 later this year. The possibility of a custodial sentence is one of the options being considered.