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A HSE report has revealed an increase in the number of Irish children taken into care in 2009. Figures presented to a meeting of the HSE last month showed there were 5,694 children in care at the end of November 2009, up from 5,396 in January 2009 – a 5.5 per cent increase.

The report, prepared by the HSE, says its local health offices have attributed the increase to a number of factors including increased public awareness of child protection and welfare issues mainly through the media, which has resulted in increased reporting of cases; the economic downturn which it says is resulting in additional financial hardship for families and cutbacks to household budgets for childcare; and an increase in babies born to mothers addicted to drugs/alcohol in some areas. It said these babies have been taken straight into care.

However, commentators have queried to what extent poverty would cause the removal of children from the family home, especially in light of a shocking incident involving the director of a care unit for troubled children in Dublin. The director in question turned a high-powered firehose on a teenage girl after she refused to get out of bed. The incident occurred at Ballydowd care unit in Dublin last year, and the unit is due to close following a damning report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa).

It was alleged that following the firehose incident in February of last year, two care staff who encouraged the teenager to make a complaint were placed on administrative leave.

The Irish Times reported that one staff member who witnessed the firehose event said: “We couldn’t believe it. The hose was turned on a full capacity, it was a powerful hose, for about a minute or more. The room was completely saturated.”

A senior source has confirmed that a social work team in the north-west reviewed the incident and concluded that the treatment of the child could be considered abusive.

However, a subsequent independent report commissioned by the HSE’s assistant national director for children and families disagreed with these findings. It found the treatment could not be categorised as abuse based on official guidelines.