Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 8 Nov 2000

Vol. 525 No. 3

Written Answers. - Child Prostitution.

Frances Fitzgerald

Question:

220 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Health and Children the information available to his Department on child prostitution in Ireland; the scale of this problem in the Dublin area; the resources allocated; his views on whether young asylum seekers are particularly vulnerable; the services available to deal with this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25207/00]

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Ms Hanafin)

Since this Government came to office in 1997 it has invested approximately £60 million additional revenue funding in child care and family support services to help children at risk and to improve child protection and youth homelessness services. Services funded include the Doras out-reach project for those of all ages involved in prostitution in the South Eastern Health Board and the Youth Initiative Partnership to respond to the needs of children who are being sexually abused, including those who are involved in prostitution, in the North Eastern Health Board area. A number of health boards have carried out studies on child prostitution.

The former Eastern Health Board established a working party on child prostitution which reported in 1997. The Mid-Western Health Board published a report entitled "Prostitution in the Mid-Western Health Board Region" in 1998.

Child prostitution is primarily a child protection issue and all health boards are conscious of the need to target services at children who are at risk of becoming involved in prostitution.

A very significant finding from the survey carried out by the working party on child prostitution in the Eastern Health Board area, which included Dublin, was that of the 47 young people aged under 18 and the ten young people aged 18 or over who were, or who had been, engaged in prostitution 80% had, or were, experiencing homelessness.

It is of particular note in this regard that that the Eastern Regional Health Authority, which is the statutory body with responsibility for health and social services for people who live in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow, has identified young people who are out of home as one of the key issues it has to tackle.

The Eastern Regional Health Authority and the area boards in the eastern region have made significant progress in implementing the comprehensive package of child care and youth homeless service developments agreed with the Minister of Health and Children last July. This package includes the establishment of a provider forum on youth homelessness which brings together key service providers in the youth homelessness field; the appointment of a director of homelessness to the authority who will be working with the provider forum to develop a plan to address urgently the needs of young people in a comprehensive and co-ordinated way; the recruitment of a significant number of additional project workers, family support workers and out-reach workers; the review by each area board of existing facilities and the sourcing of properties to provide additional hostel-residential care accommodation; and the appointment of an additional assistant chief executive officer to each area health board to lead the development process.

The authority has pointed out that a range of services are provided in the eastern region, such as the women's health project which provides targeted services, such as out-reach services, for those at risk of sexual exploitation. I might add that work on the national youth homeless strategy is progressing and I hope to launch it later this year.

In relation to the question of young asylum seekers being vulnerable to sexual exploitation, health boards outside the eastern region have not identified this as an issue. The Eastern Regional Health Authority acknowledge that unaccompanied minors seeking asylum may be vulnerable with regard to sexual exploitation. Arrangements are in place for a social work service to work with unaccompanied minors in the eastern region.