Ms Julie Ahern:

We have known this was an issue through the members of our legal advice service. They have been presenting us with anecdotal information about situations they hear of, particularly affecting young people who come into the system aged 16. They are coming into the system as unaccompanied minors and there is no application put forward for them in the protection process. We set up our legal information service last year and the issue has been cropping up. I am hearing that young people have no knowledge that an application has to be made for them. They have no knowledge of the implications. It has key implications not only for what happens to them when they turn 18 but actually for their family reunification rights. If an application is made when they are young, it is far easier for them to start applying for family reunification at that point as well.

What we are hearing suggests that there is not necessarily any devious motive behind it or anything. People in authority are making a decision from the point of view of whether it will further harm the child but without considering what it will do the young person in the long term. They might decide that they do not want a 16 year old to have to relive the experience but at 18 that young person is going to be put into direct provision. We must ask if the system is fit for purpose if people are thinking it is going to further harm the child. We need to look at child-friendly justice measures and different things that could be put in place to make sure that professionals do not have a fear of putting a 16 year old through an application process when it is in his or her best interest to get a status. They system should be adapted so that this fear is not there. We are going to continue to document this as part of our work. We will track the trends but it is an issue that really needs to be highlighted. It really does harm children who have no one else with them in the country.