The Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín TD has called for urgent action following a judgement delivered by a District Court Judge yesterday in relation to how Tusla have handled situations where children in care don’t have a social worker.
Speaking today, Deputy Tóibín said: “There are some very concerning revelations in this judgement. Tusla are supposed to “re-enter” a case in the courts every time a child in its care has no social worker. But the judgement notes that this wasn’t happening, that Tusla was no complying with these orders or informing the courts that children were without social workers. We’re talking here about a cohort of 250 or so children”.
Deputy Tóibín continued: “In recent times we’ve seen a number of judges raise very serious questions about Tusla, and about the standard of care and protection provided to children in the care of the State. The Kyran Durnin case has brought some of the system flaws to the fore. The government is not listening to foster carers, social workers or the voluntary care sector when they raise concerns, but to continue to ignore the situation even in the face of multiple judges expressing their feelings is embarrassing for the government”.
“Children in State care are being trafficked, murdered and abused at a colossal scale in this country, with high numbers also dying from drug overdoses and suicide. These are some of the most vulnerable children in the country, for whom the State is responsible – the State is the parent of these children, and it is utterly failing them. Aontú is calling on the government to outline what steps they are taking to ensure staff retention in social work, better recruitment of foster carers and how they aim to reduce the rate of trafficking, death and missing persons among children in care. This scandal needs to be taken seriously, and there needs to be an investigation into the reasons why Tusla failed to inform the court that 250 children in their care are currently without a social worker. Its a very serious situation”, concluded Tóibín.
ENDS
JUDGEMENT EXTRACTS BELOW:
“42. Clearly, the evidence and correspondence provided to the Court details senior management within the Agency at local, regional and national level were aware of this issue in 2022. At the very first opportunity when a case became unallocated, each one of them should have been re-entered in compliance with each court order.
43. However, the Agency made absolutely no effort to demonstrate compliance with any of these orders and to inform the Court that children in care were without an allocated social worker. The sheer number of children involved across social work departments highlights multiple failures within the Agency at all levels.
44. It is a failure of management at local, regional and national level which raises serious concerns on issues of governance, oversight and communication within the Agency.”
”49. In the performance of its functions involving these 250 children, the Agency has clearly failed to demonstrate high standards of performance, transparency and accountability. Equally, it failed to have regard to the best interests of each of these children.
50. This has been shocking and appalling behaviour by the Agency and how it saw its duty and obligation to the courts and, more importantly, to children in its care.
51. The Agency must learn from this and urgently review its own internal systems at all levels to ensure there is a proper robust management, oversight and record of court orders.”
https://courts.ie/acc/alfresco/48fa55a7-75c3-4043-8d2a-27cd90711128/2025_IEDC_1.pdf/pdf#view=fitH
