Speaking today Meath West TD and Leader of Aontú Peadar Tóibín stated:
“Minister for Children Norma Foley has called on Tusla to carry out wellbeing checks on children who were in their care and had their cases closed during Covid. This is a good decision. This is the first real admission from the government that their Covid policy did put significant sectors of Irish society in danger. It underlines why the current Covid Review is a toothless white wash. It wont get to the truth about the mistakes that were made.
Kate Duggan the CEO of Tusla has stated today that 28,000 children had their cases closed during this Covid. Given that Tusla is already seriously stretched with a tidal wave of increased referrals each year, just how will Tusla be able to do this while providing a service to children who are desperately in need. I am calling on the Minister to publicly announce the increase in resources that will be provided, and where will the necessary social workers come from given that there is already a shortage of this key resource.
Last year 96,000 children were referred to Tusla. This year it will be 105,000 children. Last year 7,000 of these referrals were for physical abuse, over 4,000 for sexual abuse, 4,000 for neglect and 43,000 for a Child Welfare Concern. Right now, according to our FOIs dozens of children are missing from Tusla. These FOIs reveal that since 2021 Tusla have made referrals for 161 children to the Gardaí who were suspected of being victims of Child Sexual Exploitation.
Other PQs that Aontú have received have shown that since 2014 a total of 235 children either in state care or ‘known to Tusla’ have died. Ten of these children were murdered and 51 of them died either by suicide or drug overdoses. Foster care and residential care places are simply not there to meet demand. CAMHs teams, child phycologists, drug rehabilitation staff are simply not there to meet the enormous demand. The pressure is such that staff are becoming burnt out. Tusla needs hundreds more staff and €400m more in investment.
The tragic deaths of Kyran Durnin and an this young boy who is being searched for in Donebate are not unique, they are just two of the hundreds of children who are losing their lives in or known to state care. This demands a societal change. It demands reform of Tusla and it demands resources.
