Holly and Jessica – and the Irish children who are always at risk

In the course of the last awful fortnight, as we watched television and read newspapers to await with trepidation the fate of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, the only question pondered in this country was whether it could happen here.

Very definitely it could, and sensible parents have become more acutely alert as to the whereabouts of their young children.

Suddenly, children were being cherished as never before. Short of putting tracking devices on their ankles or wrists, and having them accompanied to the shops with at least two Alsatians, parents in this country drew parallels between their own kids and what happened to Jessica and Holly.

And, of course, they were right. Parents here fear that what happened to two families in the sleepy village of Soham in Cambridgeshire could happen in their own little Irish suburban idyll.

Of course it could, no matter how slim the chances. Families here can relate to, or at least empathise with, the Wells and Chapman families. And the important word here is 'families'.

In light of what happened in Soham, all kinds of precautions have been taken by parents and admonitions to exercise extreme caution uttered to children.

That, of course, is a natural reaction because no matter how small the chance that it could happen and child abduction is put at six to ten cases a year in Britain the terrible fear is that it could be one of yours. So, we are concerned about our children? Wrong. We are only concerned about children when they are members of our family.

There are thousands of other children out there in a twilight zone of their own and we, as a society, don't give a tuppeny damn about them.

If we did, we would not allow them live the lives they do.

They live in the kind of danger and risk that would give us nightmares if they were our own children. It's Soham type danger and risk.

They live in poverty; they are homeless. In a country which is the third richest in Europe, the most disadvantaged of children are relegated to a life which is redolent of Dickensian times, and which in too many cases leads to confrontation with the law.

The plight of these young people was graphically illustrated this week by Owen Keenan, the chief executive of Barnardos, which has been involved in childcare in this country for the past 40 years.

He knows what he is talking about.

Up to two-thirds of teenagers leaving State care end up sleeping on the streets here. He maintains that many of the 4,200 children in care have been failed by the State because of serial neglect by successive governments to invest in childcare services.

Given the public outrage expressed in recent years over the incidence of sexual abuse of children by people in positions of trust and influence over them, most people would be under the impression that sufficient safeguards were by now put in place to protect children.

That would not appear to be the case.

The serious inadequacy of our current system for vetting people working with children's organisations, whether in a paid or voluntary capacity, is a further example of the shortcoming of our own provision for children, according to Owen Keenan.

"These arrangements fall far short of the arrangements in place in the North or in Britain, which is highly dangerous for it leaves us vulnerable to people who are unemployable in those jurisdictions being employed here," he said.

Owen Keenan said money was urgently needed to tackle the lack of resources for social workers and foster families, chronic staff shortages in the childcare sector, caused by poor conditions and pay, and lack of training for those caring for children in State homes.

"Social workers on the ground are having to prioritise children at risk from violence, abuse or neglect. Those children that are taken into care join a system that is inadequate to meet their needs. Lack of staff means many children are cared for by people with little training, often from a different country, making the child's experience even more chaotic," he said.

This can lead to a deterioration of their behaviour, which may mean having to join a more secure special care unit. These are also poorly staffed because it is very difficult to get qualified people and hold onto them.

"This leaves high levels of unqualified personnel in charge of some of our most vulnerable children," he said.

At the other end of the spectrum, when young people get into trouble with the law and end up in court, the State also fails them.

Criminal cases against 133 children were thrown out of court last year as no detention places for young offenders were available.

Figures from the Dublin Children's Court showed the judge struck out four times as many cases as in 2000 because of the failure of the authorities to provide remand places.

That, naturally, brought stinging criticism from Fine Gael and Labour spokesmen, who conveniently forgot that through their parties' sporadic periods in government they were also guilty of the "serial neglect" of successive governments to invest in childcare facilities.

Ironically, on the same day that report was published, there was a case reported from the same court about a teenager who was given a two-year detention sentence for a four-month crime spree.

The 15-year-old boy was described as a "serial offender," and was sentenced to two years in Oberstown House after he was convicted on 35 charges relating to driving stolen cars, criminal damage and public order offences.

During the case, the court was told that he had committed most of the offences because there had been no secure place of detention to remand him. He had previously escaped on two occasions from another institution.

I don't know what the figures for the rest of the country are, but they are probably proportionate to those relating to Dublin.

It is very easy to condemn what are perceived as young thugs and hooligans who appear before the courts and do not appear to appreciate or care about the consequences of their actions.

Some of them are, of course, but if they are groomed by an inadequate State child care system which leads them inevitably to a troubled adolescence from a troubled childhood, then they can also be described as victims.