International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (SF), Wicklow-Wexford

Similarly, and as I have a background in primary teaching, I am quite concerned at giving Tusla more of a role. Many people would certainly question the merits of this because over the past five years, there have been 7,000 recorded cases of children going missing from Tusla care. I remember Tusla came before one of the committees, when it acknowledged that 33 separated children or unaccompanied minors who were seeking international protection are now officially missing. They are still missing today. That is 33 separated children; God knows where they are. With the amount of sexual exploitation and trafficking going on in the world at the moment, who knows where they are? I certainly have concerns about giving an extra role to a body that seems to already be overburdened and under-resourced.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25