Board holds crisis talks over €4.2midle unit

A €4.2 million secure unit for juvenile delinquents which has been lying idle since April was the subject of top-level talks yesterday to review its future.

Coovagh House in Limerick has been unable to hire staff. The original recommendation from the Mid-Western Health Board was that it needed 38 staff to cater for five boys. This was subsequently reduced to 22 staff, but they still couldn’t find employees.

The unit opened in September 2003, at a cost of over €4m, with a budget of €1.8m, yet only three boys were placed there from September to April this year. It was opened to comply with a High Court order in February 2000, after repeated warnings from the bench that there were inadequate facilities nationwide to detain juvenile criminals.

Yesterday, officials from the Mid-Western Health Board held urgent talks with the Special Residential Services Board, Department of Health appointed officials who provide residential care for disturbed teenagers. A separate meeting also took place with Department of Health officials.

Labour front bench education spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan has called for a review of the Limerick centre’s use.

“There is little point having an empty building. It is a difficult area for the health board which is very concerned about the legal implications. But the health board have to be practical about how money is spent. It is time for a re-evaluation to see if other ways can be found to use the facility to achieve the same end,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

Junior Health Minister Tim O’Malley said his colleague Brian Lenihan, Minister with responsibility for Children, has ordered an inquiry into the problem.

“Huge money has been spent on it and it is standing idle. I have raised the matter in the Department of Health and it is a high priority,” he said.

Centres such as Coovagh House were opened to deal with the most disruptive children in the country, who previously were sent abroad to be cared for. Two boys had to be moved from the unit last April due to ongoing staffing problems.

A Mid-Western Health Board spokesperson said: “It is always difficult to recruit child care workers. There is an international shortage of skilled childcare professionals and our difficulties are no different from those experienced elsewhere in the childcare sector.”