Judge urges closure of HSE teen residential unit

A HSE residential unit for troubled teenagers in Cork City should be closed down immediately before a resident or member of staff is seriously injured, the senior District Court judge in the city said yesterday.

Judge Con O’Leary has expressed reservations about Pathways on Ballyhooley Rd, Cork, before and has called senior managers of the HSE to Cork District Court in relation to his concerns in the past. Yesterday the judge went further.

“It should be closed down. It is unfair to staff trying to manage the place, unfair to people living there and unfair to the community. As far as I am concerned, it is only a matter of time before one of the residents or one of the staff is seriously injured.”