“Referrals to Tusla Soar During Pandemic – With 23,000 Referrals Made by Gardaí” – Tóibín
Tusla have provided, to Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD, a breakdown on the 69,712 referrals they received last year. 23,209 children were referred by Gardaí, 5,840 by Social Workers and 5,308 by Teachers.
Speaking in reaction to the statistics released to him, Deputy Tóibín said:
“The climb in the number of referrals to TUSLA in 2020 is a cause for concern. It is hard to comprehend that nearly 70,000 children were referred to TUSLA in 2020, to put that figure in context there were just under 60,000 babies born here in 2019. Significant questions remain – how resourced is TUSLA to deal with such a volume of referrals? Was every referral processed? How many represent vexatious referrals? I am particularly struck by the fact that the number of referrals from managers of Direct Provision centres in 2020 was higher than the number of referrals from Addiction Counsellors, what does this say about the state of the direct provision system. I firmly believe that lockdowns and harsh restrictions put vulnerable children at considerable risk – the government must undertake an assessment of the impact lockdowns and Covid-19 response measures have had on vulnerable children in this State”, concluded Tóibín.
