Tusla funds private solicitor for vulnerable child amid legal aid strike in Dublin

Tusla privately paid a solicitor to represent a vulnerable child in care after the legal aid strike left him without representation. The boy was remanded until 9 September.

Tusla covers legal fees as strike leaves vulnerable Dublin boy without solicitor

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, privately funded a criminal defence solicitor to represent "one of the most vulnerable children in the country" after the ongoing legal-aid solicitors' strike left the boy without access to legal representation, the Irish Times reports.

Dublin District Children's Court heard on Wednesday that the boy, who "had a very difficult upbringing", would have been sent to Oberstown Children Detention Campus at a previous court sitting had a solicitor been present. Without representation, he was instead released on continuing bail — conditions he subsequently breached on multiple occasions. Last weekend he was arrested and charged with a number of offences outside Dublin.

Solicitor Eoghan O'Sullivan of Powderly Solicitors, who was retained to represent the boy, told Judge Shalom Binchy it was the first time the child had legal representation in the proceedings. "Given the level of concern that his care staff and Tusla have for his wellbeing, and that he couldn't access a solicitor at present, particularly one with the required expertise in juvenile justice, they decided to cover his legal fees in relation to this matter," O'Sullivan said.

O'Sullivan himself had withdrawn from the legal aid panel as part of the wider solicitors' dispute over fees for criminal legal aid cases. Tusla said that, acting in its role as "a prudent parent for children in care", the agency would retain a solicitor "on behalf of the young person where none is otherwise available due to the withdrawal of services by solicitors". Any decision to fund a solicitor on a private basis, it added, is made by the relevant social work department.

Garda Brendan Fahy of Store Street told the court he had observed the boy at the end of June in Dublin city centre. Having established that the boy was missing from his care placement, he searched him and found a scissors blade and a small quantity of cocaine, valued at approximately €10. The boy was charged and released on bail with conditions including a 9pm to 7am curfew and a requirement to stay out of Dublin city centre. Since then, he had gone missing from his care placement on 22 occasions and been found in the city centre.

Fahy agreed with O'Sullivan that the boy was a "pleasant, decent young fellah" when engaged with on a one-to-one basis. O'Sullivan described his client as "an extremely vulnerable young man, very naive, very innocent", adding that "his level of maturity is very low". The boy's social worker and care-placement staff, several of whom were present in court, were "doing their level best" for him, O'Sullivan said, including arranging for him to begin a Safe Pass course this month to enable him to work on building sites.

O'Sullivan asked the judge not to revoke bail, arguing that the boy was "vulnerable to trying to look for groups that accept him" and that this was why he fell in with the wrong people. The boy accepted he had breached his bail conditions and was described as "apologetic". "I think it has dawned on him today, particularly after the weekend, just how much he is at risk [of being detained]," O'Sullivan said, adding that his client required "therapeutic help rather than punitive detention in Oberstown".

Garda Fahy, however, said that given "the escalation [in suspected offending] of recent times", he believed the boy needed to be detained and was "a risk to himself". Having established there was one bed available at Oberstown, Judge Binchy remanded the boy until 9 September.

Source: Irish Times