Child Law Project says State is ill-equipped to help vulnerable children

The judge in one case before the courts remarked that some in-house therapies available in the UK are not available in Ireland. Stock illustration

Vulnerable children are repeatedly let down by the State, which appears “ill-equipped” to support young people with a disability or mental health issue whose home life has broken down.

The lack of specialist services and residential care beds in Ireland for children with behavioural difficulties was a theme of the latest volume of reports published today by the Child Law Project, with judges saying that children could “fall between the gaps” in the system.