A 13-year-old girl is being sexually exploited by a criminal gang and “pimped out” for prostitution, the High Court has been told.

The girl was described as a child who loved to play and “cradle and cuddle her teddy bears.”

On foot of an application by the Child and Family Agency (CFA) on Wednesday, the girl is now to be detained in a special care unit.

Mr Justice Senan Allen granted the CFA an order permitting gardaí detain her and bring her to the unit where she will receive therapeutic care for the duration of the order, which initially lasts eight days but can be extended.

The girl came to Ireland with her parents in 2018. She came to the attention of social services because of the parents’ alcohol abuse and the father’s aggressive behaviour towards his daughter.

She was put in foster care last year and has been in a series of residential places which have broken down, her social worker said in an affidavit.

David Leahy BL, instructed by Mason Hayes and Curran solicitors, for the CFA, said she has gone missing 20 times since February from a care home where she had been placed.

The parents became homeless and the family, including the daughter, spent nights sleeping rough before the parents got accommodation in a homeless shelter where problems again arose because of their drinking.

Last February, her parents expressed concern to the social worker she was being exploited by a criminal gang and was having sex with members of it. She had acquired expensive new mobile phones and money, counsel said. It had not been possible to keep her safe in the various placements, the social worker said. It was reported she was one of a number of girls who were “being pimped out” by one man at a certain location, counsel said.

The girl had denied engaging in sexual activity but said she had been offered money for sex, counsel said. However, in the last two weeks, she had sought a pregnancy test which proved negative, he said. She has being going on trips to Belfast on a weekly basis for the whole day, he said. Her foster carer had also observed video footage on her phone of a sexual nature. She also goes off with groups of up to 20 people and admits to have been “driven all over Ireland,” he said.

The gang she is involved in has some 200 members from age 12 to adulthood and she is the leader of a sub-group within the gang which has led to resentment among older members because of her age, counsel said.

She says she smokes and drinks but has never been observed intoxicated. She was found in possession of a marijuana grinder she said she was keeping that for someone else.

A toxicology test found only traces of paracetamol on her. She has been involved in shoplifting and may be being used to carry drugs in her hair due to the fact gardaí would be unlikely to stop her because of her age, counsel said. She is not engaging in school and found the transition from primary to secondary difficult, he added.

Mr Justice Allen said while this was an ex-parte (one side only represented) application, it was supported by the girl’s parents who would be provided with legal representation by the CFA for the duration of any care order. He also appointed a separate guardian ad litem to represent the girl.

Her behaviour had given rise to an apprehension of an immediate risk of harm and gardaí and her social worker believe she was being exploited for the purpose of prostitution, he said. She had given accounts of her movements which seemed to justify those concerns.