Beds unfilled at centre for troubled children

TWO-THIRDS of beds at a centre for the State’s most troubled children remain unfilled, but staff and management say huge progress is being made at the troubled facility.

Ballydowd in west Dublin opened more than two years ago in response to stinging criticism from the courts over the lack of a secure care unit for disturbed children.

It had to deal with staff unrest over pay and training, highly critical Government inspectors and a number of mini-riots.