Late 20th century American philosopher John Rawls proposed a simple test for thinking about justice: how would you assess a society if you didn’t know what your own place in it would be?

The question goes to the heart of justice. The success of a society cannot be measured by what it enables the powerful to achieve, but by what happens to those who are unable to protect themselves. And few citizens are less well able to protect themselves than children at the mercy of the Irish care system.

The High Court recently heard that a 14-year-old girl who was being severely sexually exploited by a group of men could not be placed in special care. Even though there are empty physical beds, roughly half of the State’s special care places are unavailable because there aren’t enough staff to operate them. So while the State has the physical facilities to protect this child, it can’t provide the service of removing her from horrifying and dangerous circumstances.

Kitty Holland reported yesterday that there was also no special care bed for a boy who vomited up 37 bags of crack cocaine he was concealing from gardaí. The boy is using fentanyl and is “at serious risk of death” due to drug use or drug debts. “This child would not be a fentanyl user if [Tusla] had complied with the court order [that he be in special care],” Judge John Jordan said.

Trump proclaims ‘golden age’ while US midterm polls are flashing historical defeats

Don’t make an additional voluntary contribution to your pension – until you read this

Trump has done two things to free his voters from the pact they made with him

‘A surprise to everybody’: Family denies organising 4.5m-high memorial in Sligo Cemetery

Nor is there a bed for a girl of 17 who was recently found “unresponsive on a roadside” and could not remember what had happened to her when she was brought to hospital complaining of pain in her pelvic area.

Despite the State’s legal obligation........

© The Irish Times