International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

I will be very quick in relation to this. We have had Tusla in front of the children's committee numerous times.
It will talk about its new operating model. I do not take away from the complex cases but we are talking about putting a greater onus on the organisation. It has stated quite explicitly – I have brought this up with the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Deputy Norma Foley, in particular – that on the basis of its figures, it is 300 social workers short. It is at least 100 social care workers short. We all know there is an insufficient number of foster carers; it is probably upwards of 500 short. We are therefore putting pressure on an entity that is already under severe pressure. I agree with Deputy Carthy that there need to be some sort of utterances from the Minister for justice on accepting this proposal and some means of dealing with the matter. There is not much point in putting an already-under-pressure organisation under more pressure or setting it up for failure. The latter is not acceptable either. There has to be an element of fairness and recognition. Again, we are dealing with a timeline that has been thrust on the Minister because of the agreement in respect of the EU migration and asylum pact. I do not believe any of this is conducive to coming up with a real solution to dealing with the issues regarding international protection.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25