What happens when an out-of-control teenager is your son?

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One father’s fight to get help for his troubled teenage son

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20:53

Wed Oct 21 2026 - 08:20

A teenage boy missing from care and driving stolen cars at high speeds into oncoming traffic is going to “kill himself or someone else” if he is not detained, his father has said.

Irish Times Social Affairs Correspondent Kitty Holland has seen his nightly postings of videos of himself and others in cars driving at almost 200km/h, sometimes into oncoming traffic.

The boy is in the care of Tusla but has been missing for more than two weeks.

So what can be done to stop this boy from injuring himself and others? What State services are available to him? And if he continues this chaotic behaviour, who is to blame?

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and host of In the News podcast