Teenage girl found dazed outside Dublin GPO challenges HSE in court

A teenage girl found abandoned in Dublin City Centre has launched a High Court action against the HSE's plan to place her in non-secure care facility.

Today, lawyers acting on the instructions of her legal guardian told the court that the girl, believed to be the victim of child trafficking, needs to be placed in a secure facility.

The girl, believed to be aged around 14 and from eastern Europe,

Read More:

She was carrying no identification and was unable to speak to officers when discovered.

Gardaí then contacted the HSE, which arranged that she be taken into care. She is currently receiving treatment at a Dublin hospital.

Today at the High Court Counsel for the guardian ad litem, the person appointed to represent the interests of the teen, Felix McEnroy SC, said the girl had been found in "very distressed circumstances," by the Gardaí.

She has remained in hospital since she was found. However counsel said her stay there is about to come to an end.

Counsel said that under a HSE plan she is to be moved from hospital and placed in a non-secure facility in a rural area.

Counsel said it was the guardian's case this plan was not acceptable.

The girl, given her needs, must be placed a placement at a secure facility, he said.

European law governing child trafficking, which is one of the most regulated areas of European law, requires that she be provided with a secure placement, counsel said.

In judicial review proceedings against the Health Services Executive, Ireland and the attorney general, the guardian is seeking orders including that the decision to provide her with a non secure placement quashed.

Permission to bring the action was granted on an ex parte basis by Mr Justice George Birmingham.