Prominent homeless campaigner Fr Peter McVerry has strongly criticised the Health Service Executive for transferring two emergency care hostels from the centre of Dublin to north county Dublin. St Jude's and Parkview, both residential centres for youths between the ages of 12 and 18, had been operating in the city centre for many years but have now been replaced by a modern eight-bed unit on the grounds of St Ita's Psychiatric Hospital in Portrane.
Fr McVerry called the move "utterly hopeless" and accused the HSE is putting finances ahead of the needs of vulnerable children.
"This decision was made for financial reasons but it's the children who will have to pay," he claimed. "The location is hopeless and it simply won't work at all, Portrane is located so far from most areas where these kids are coming from that most will never bother going there," he claimed.
"Kids won't travel that far out where they will be away from their families and for many of them, their work or school."
Fr McVerry also criticised the HSE plan for mixing teenagers of different ages in the same institution.
The two hostels being replaced catered for different age brackets - St Jude's for 12 to 15-year-olds and Parkview for 16 to 18 year-olds.
But in the new Portrane facility. they will be mixed and Fr McVerry said this is not a good idea as 17 and 18-year-old homeless youths have often been socialised into drugs and crime and are not suitable company for 12-year olds.
"These are very vulnerable children we are dealing with," he argued.
Fr McVerry said the reduction in out-of-hours beds from twenty to eight could lead to social workers sending children back to their families prematurely.
"These children could be told to go home to their families or their communities even if it's not appropriate for them," he said.
He added that the centre of Dublin was a much more suitable location for homeless accommodation services because other services needed by their patrons were close to hand, as were their friends and families."
"I would call on the HSE to seriously rethink their decision and do what's best for young homeless people in Dublin," he asked.
Commenting on Fr McVerry's remarks, the Health Services Executive said that it was confident that young people who genuinely required a service would not have an issue with the new location.
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(Source: CIN)