Parents' alcoholism forced teenager onto streets, court hears

A teenage boy spent years living on the streets of Dublin after he left home to escape from his alcoholic parents, a court heard today.

The boy, now aged 17, had lived on the streets after fleeing from his parents and then developed an addiction to heroin. He had "slipped through the system" and social services had difficulties in trying to help him because he was living rough, the Dublin Children’s Court heard.