A JUDGE has instructed Gardaí to do everything in their power to make it possible for a 16-year-old boy, who is being held on criminal charges, to visit his dying grandmother.
The teenager, who cannot be named as he is a juvenile, appeared before Limerick District Court on remand from Oberstown Children Detention Centre in Dublin.
He is charged with assault causing harm and production of a knife in Kilrush, County Clare, on June 17.
Speaking on the boy’s behalf, his solicitor Monica Roche asked Judge Fiona Brennan if she would sanction a temporary and limited bail for the 16 year old to visit his grandmother at University Hospital Limerick.
She said the boy’s family had asked if this would be allowed as “she is very seriously ill and suffering from liver failure”.
“It would only be a matter of making a detour. The hospital is 20 minutes up the road,” Ms Roche said.
Sergeant Aisling O’Neill told Judge Brennan that the difficulty was that the boy’s escort from Oberstown had brought two young people to Limerick for business before the court with an official escort of just two people.
“It’s not possible for Oberstown to accommodate this,” she said.
Garda Bríon Dolan, based at Kilrush Garda Station, was in court to give details in relation to the application for the boy to be further detained.
He volunteered to enquire whether it would be possible to get an escort from Kilrush to bring the boy to see his grandmother.
When Garda Dolan returned to the court, he told Judge Brennan that “it’s not for want of any wish to facilitate this, it just isn’t possible. We just don’t have the resources in the division.”
The court heard that bringing the 16 year old boy to the hospital would require an escort and a driver, and the escort which had brought him to Limerick for the court sitting did not include enough people to be responsible for both him and the other young person – who had also appeared before the court.
The teenager’s solicitor asked if a temporary bail could be given to allow the visit.
“We’re only asking for half an hour,” she petitioned the court.
Judge Brennan noted that the boy’s grandmother had a “significant role” in his upbringing, but said she could not see any way that she could facilitate the visit on that day.
She remanded him in detention until September 5 with leave to apply for bail up to and including that date.
In the meantime, Judge Brennan said, “I would suggest that the parties (Oberstown, the Gardaí, and the boy’s family) remain in communication so that matters are ironed out and a visit can be facilitated”.
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