Children in Care
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

I will also follow up. The Minister stated that "by the start of May this year, Tusla will have reduced the number of emergency placements that are not registered by almost 50%". When are we taking that from? Are we talking about the 70 there at the moment becoming 35? We are literally talking about the end of this week. I am going to put that question again. There are obviously complex cases. We get the idea of the huge issue in respect of separated children seeking international protection. The Minister spoke about the issue of the age discrepancy, which needs to be dealt with, particularly from a safeguarding point of view. However, what happens with a complex child if we do not have a special care facility and we do not have the residential care that Deputy Kerrane is speaking about and which is underfunded? What happens in this day and age? As much as I want to see the end of SEAs, and it needs to happen as soon as possible and I ask for a date, I have a fear of what happens at present with one of those children to avoid them being placed in an SEA. Where do we put them if we do not have the appropriate residential care facility? I am very worried. I will also go back to that point that we are missing the early intervention piece that could avoid an awful lot of this nuclear action and we would not be failing children to the degree we are.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28