A leading children's charity has accused the East Coast Area Health Board of forcing the premature closure of a dedicated support service for young asylum-seekers in Co Dublin set up last year.
Barnardos said it understood it had an agreement with the board for funding for three years for its service, based in a hostel for mostly young asylum-seekers in Dún Laoghaire.
A board spokesman rejected this, however, saying it provided only once-off funding totalling €326,000 for 2002 and nine months of this year.
The project, which stopped providing services two months ago but has been funded until the end of next month, was based in the Old School House Hostel in Dún Laoghaire.
The board has responsibility for all immigrant asylum-seeker children who have been separated from their parents or primary carers and are referred to it from immigration or refugee officials.
Ms Suzanne Connolly, Barnardos, said the organisation was disappointed that the project has had to end its services, which included child-minding, parent and toddler sessions, English and computer classes, workplace information and activities for young people.
"We understood this to be a three-year agreement with the board," she said. Ms Connolly said Barnardos accepted the board's recent decision, on foot of an inspection team report, to change the use of the hostel from a long-term accommodation centre to a short-term reception centre.
"We also accepted that young mothers were being moved to another location and we made a very good proposal to provide a service for young parents and their children, but the board had a narrower view," she said.
However, a board spokesman said there was "no commitment for three years" funding for the project. "There was once-off funding for one year, even though we decided to fund it to some degree this year," he added.
Due to a change in the client group at the hostel, mothers and children who were using the service have been moved to more appropriate accommodation.
Meanwhile, a Dún Laoghaire voluntary group yesterday criticised the policy of moving young people out of child-dedicated accommodation centres into adult hostels once they turn 18.
Young people who become adults are obliged to move into full-board accommodation under the direct provision system, where they receive reduced social welfare benefits of €19.10 a week. Ms Mary King, Dún Laoghaire Refugee Project, said one youth who lived in the Old School House for two years was suddenly pulled out recently. "You have a little bit of security within those four walls and then you get a letter and it's gone," said Ms King, who praised the supportive attitude of hostel staff.
The chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, Mr Peter O'Mahony, said many children living in hostels had experienced trauma and there were many circumstances where it would be inappropriate to move them to adult accommodation when they turned 18. "People may have put down small and shallow roots and many of these are being dug up," he said.
The board welcomed the council's report published yesterday, which made extensive recommendations for improving provision for immigrant children who are alone in the country.