The Aontú leader called for an end to the scandalous use of SEAs, in the wake of the harrowing RTE Investigates documentary, asking: “When will they be shut down?”
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín today called for the Government to give a date to cease using unregulated placements, known as Special Emergency Arrangements (SEAs).
In the Dail, he asked Tanaiste Simon Harris: “When will you give a date for these placements to be closed completely?” However the Tanaiste did not give an answer.
The Meath TD told the Dail: “Last night, RTE Investigates broadcast a shocking report on Tusla and Children in State Care. This is something that we in Aontú have been working on solidly for the last five years.
“The report was obscene, Tánaiste. Young children from some of the most difficult backgrounds are being taken from their parents by Tusla and they are being placed into Special Emergency Arrangements. These are often unregulated and are staffed by workers who are unvetted and who have forged references.
“They are being groomed by crack cocaine dealers. Children are being sexually abused while in the care of Tusla. They are being raped and exploited by paedophiles. The scandal unfolding in Tusla ranks alongside any of the institutional scandals of the past. The difference is, it’s happening in real time.”
He pointed out that while the RTE Investigates programme was of great value, there was one problem: “The Minister for Children was invisible. Tusla is not operating in a vacuum. It is the product of this Government. It is the responsibility of the Minister.
“The lack of funds and social workers is a policy choice of this government. Tusla cannot be used as some kind of insulation to separate this government from this horror. You said that you wanted Ireland to be the best country in the world to be a child. Children are being raped, killed and groomed while under the care of the state, at a cost of €14,000 a week per child.
“When will there be accountability, when will resources be matched to need? When will you shut down special emergency arrangements? Will you today give a date to end the Special Emergency Arrangements in this country? You haven’t given a date these will be closed completely.”
He added how Aontú had worked on highlighting these cases since 2021. Said Tóibín: “We uncovered a harrowing case of a 14-year-old girl who went missing from a Tusla facility within 24 hours of being placed there. This child was missing for an entire year, eventually discovered in a brothel, the victim of unimaginable exploitation while she was supposedly under your government’s protection.
He said an Aontú Parliamentary Question revealed how five children known to state services died in just the first eight weeks of this year. “When I raised this first in the Dáil I was sure that something so horrendous, when brought to light, would come to an immediate end. Not only has it not come to an end, but it is now getting worse.
