Children in the care of Tusla were not in “prisons for criminals” and security guards should not be deployed because of staffing problems, a High Court judge has said, Judge John Jordan heard staffing at the Crannóg Nua special care unit in north Co Dublin had fallen well below acceptable levels in the last week as an “unexpected” number of workers went out on stress-related leave. At the same time assaultive behaviour by one young person resulted in three special care workers sustaining injuries, including one who suffered a broken arm, said Paul Gunning, barrister for Tusla. More staff had gone on sick leave over the weekend. “The agency has called in staff from elsewhere,” he said. “It has also identified one new staff member and eight other people are undergoing training to be special care workers.” They would be deployed shortly, and this would bring a staff/child ratio to 6:1. The accepted minimum level was 7:1 over a 24-hour roster. Special care is the most secure form of care provided to the most emotionally disturbed and vulnerable children. Children aged 11 to 17 may be detained by the High Court in cases where their behaviours and circumstances pose a threat to their own lives or people around them.Just 15 of the 26 special care beds are open, however, due to ongoing challenges recruiting and retaining special care workers. Gunning said security guards had been brought into Crannóg Nua in the last week to protect staff where the 15-year-old engaged in “assaultive behaviour”. Tusla had “no choice” but to do so, to protect staff. The measure was “unrelated” to staffing levels, he said. [ Tusla hires security guards due to staffing shortages at centre for very vulnerable childrenOpens in new window ]Alan Brady, barrister for the child’s court-appointed advocate said the security guards’ deployment was “counterproductive” and was “related to the staffing ratio”. He said staffing ratios had fallen as low as 3:1 in recent weeks.“If the unit was properly staffed there would be less of a need for [security guards]. That is what I am saying. From the [advocate’s] perspective this is a therapeutic environment. This is not prison.”The judge said: “What I see all of the time, constantly, is this problem with staffing in special care units impacting on special care units. “[Special care] has been running at half capacity and to suggest there isn’t a connection between bringing in [security guards] and ongoing staffing issues ... it stretches things.” It should not be necessary to have security guards in any special care unit, the judge said. [ Teen in Tusla care put together fake ‘sawn-off shotgun’ and frightened staff, court hearsOpens in new window ]“Special care is a therapeutic environment, not a prison for criminals ... If there was an adequate number of properly trained staff it is difficult to see how [security] would be required.” He asked for an update on staffing at the unit to be available by next week.Granting an extension to the order detaining the child, he noted they had been in the care of Tusla since birth.“[The child] has a huge array of difficulties in life ... [and had] no capacity to self-regulate.”They had caused significant property damage and assaulted their foster mother and a social worker.They had been “abusing alcohol since the age of 11; fighting since [the child] was 12, and [had been] a victim of child sexual exploitation”.They were involved in assaults, theft and criminal behaviour and had continued with assaultive behaviour while in special care. “All of this in circumstances where [the child] has been in care of [Tusla] for all of [their] life,” the judge said.