Gardaí forced to ‘babysit’ vulnerable children at stations

GARDAÍ say they are being forced to “babysit” vulnerable children in stations around the country because of inadequate responses by the health services.

Garda representatives have called on leading children’s rights advocates to put pressure on the Health Service Executive (HSE) for a guaranteed out-of-hours service for youths.

The call comes after a 15-year-old boy spent the night at a garda station in Charleville, Co Cork, because no HSE personnel could be contacted on emergency phone numbers.