€9.6m to house 60 troubled teenagers last year

ALMOST €10 million was paid to a private company to provide residential, aftercare and respite services for 60 troubled teenagers last year.

Figures obtained by the Irish Examiner reveal that Fresh Start, now the largest private provider of childcare services in the country with 14 centres, was paid €9.6m by the HSE.

Children’s lawyer Catherine Ghent has expressed concern about the sums being paid out by the HSE to private firms at a time when there was concern over the extent of resources available to the state. She said it was time to re-assess the amount of money being spent and ensure the state is not only buying in services which provide value for money, but also adhere to the highest standards of professional practice

“The difficulty is that instead of adequately resourcing local and national services over the past number of years, the HSE has relied heavily on these private service providers.”

Solicitor Eamonn Moloney, a member of the Mental Health Lawyers Association, raised concerns over the level of support a client of his, Sarah Sinnott, received at a Fresh Start house in Cobh over a 30-month period between 2005 and 2008.

Mr Maloney has represented Ms Sinnott in mental health tribunals. Now 19, she is currently in prison for assault, having accrued more than 30 charges in recent years.

Mr Maloney said a “significant” number of Ms Sinnott’s assault charges had arisen from her time in Fresh Start, and claimed the staff could not cope with her.

Director of operations and co-founder of Fresh Start David Durney said: “We deal with a lot of difficult to manage kids and we have one staff per young person minimum. We don’t operate locked units and we offer young people a normal living environment... I would say the costs are comparable to similar services.”