State has no secure care for teenage girl at risk of being shot by drug gang exploiting her, court told

High Court heard girl, 16, was currently in non-secure private residential care, where drug dealers called to collect her, as there was no special care bed currently available in the country 

Judge heard on one occasion, when teenage girl was being driven in a car on a motorway, another car with five men in it had driven up alongside the vehicle, shouting threats at her.

The State has no secure special care space for a teenage girl threatened with being shot if she does not co-operate with a drug gang that had set out to exploit her, a High Court judge was told on Tuesday.

Mr Justice Oisín Quinn said he was concerned while there were 26 special care beds in the country, only 15 were currently staffed and none was available for the 16-year-old girl whose life had been threatened.