Teen ‘institutionalised’ by care unit detention

A TEENAGER was left “institutionalised” and unfit for mainstream education after being detained in a controversial children’s care facility, a court has heard.

The boy, aged 15, was before the Children’s Court where he pleaded guilty to possessing two stolen car radio sets, in Ballyfermot, Dublin, on April 9, 2010.

Garda Ann Irwin told Judge Ann Ryan that the boy “refused to give comments on where he got the two radios”.

The boy had also pleaded guilty to getting into a stolen vehicle in west Dublin on May 2 last year and has also continued to come to Garda attention.

The teen had been held previously by order of the High Court in the Ballydowd Special Care Unit, in Dublin.

The centre was opened in 2000, at a cost of €13 million. A damning report published by the Health Information and Quality Authority in 2009 had criticised the environment at the centre as no longer acceptable for the detention of children.

Gareth Noble, defending, told Judge Ryan yesterday that the boy was “the subject of a number of external reports on the suitability of Ballydowd as a place of detention”.

He said the period the boy spent there “left him scarred in relation to dealing with a number of issues”.

“He had become institutionalised in Ballydowd, was detained for long periods of time by himself, his interaction with others would have been limited.”

Mr Noble said that for that reason the boy was “unsuitable for mainstream education” when he left the care facility and returned to his parents.

The boy, who had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, found it extremely difficult to interact with other children in school.

Home tuition had to be provided to him and he is now looking for a training course that would suit him. His father, who was present for the case, has also brought him to a psychologist, the court heard.

Judge Ryan sought an updated probation report and requested the HSE to attend the proceedings. The case was adjourned to later this month when it will meet up with other charges brought against the teen. They include allegations of trespassing and crashing two stolen cars.

The boy, who is on bail, also faces charges for assaulting HSE staff at Ballydowd Special Care Unit, in 2009, which he denies.