Lack of out-of-hours services is ‘biggest childcare scandal’

THE biggest scandal in our childcare system is the deficient after-hours service encountered by vulnerable children.

That is according Gareth Noble, who works as a defence solicitor at Dublin Children’s Court. He said young people are still turning up at garda stations where they are given hostel-style emergency accommodation for the night. The next day there is nowhere for them to go and they end up roaming the streets and often get into trouble, he said.

“These might be young people, some of whom might not be known to the HSE. They present at a garda station late at night and are allocated a place in a hostel and left to wander the streets during the day.