GRA Calls For Out-Of-Hours Welfare Service

The Garda Representative Association has called for the setting-up of an out-of-hours service for the care and welfare of vulnerable children.

The association claims that social workers are impossible to locate outside office hours.

With ongoing pressure on gardaí to intervene in cases where children in the family home are at risk, GRA President John Egan said this evening the lack of support services in some sectors of the community is giving cause for great concern.

The GRA is to raise the issue with Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan tomorrow.

Speaking in Carlow before the start of its annual conference, the GRA president said gardaí cannot solve all social ills alone.

He said the lack of support services in some sectors gives great cause for concern.

Social workers are impossible to locate outside of regular working hours, he said.

He added that this places great strain on gardaí who wish to help juveniles in trouble and their families, domestic violence victims, young offenders and vulnerable children.

He said that GRA members are hampered in the care they can afford citizens in need.