Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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Peadar Tóibín (AON), Meath West

Last night, “RTÉ Investigates” broadcast a shocking report on Tusla and children in State care. This is something we in Aontú have been raising solidly for the past five years. The report was obscene. Young children are being taken from very difficult backgrounds from their parents and being placed into special emergency arrangements. These are often unregulated, often with staff who are unvetted and some of those staff do not even have references. Children are being located in apartments and hotel rooms and are being moved around on a regular basis. In short spaces of time, a child could be in 20 separate locations. Children are sleeping in car parks and sleeping in broken-down cars. They are being groomed by crack cocaine dealers. Children are being sexually abused while in the care of Tusla. Children are being raped in the care of Tusla and known to Tusla. This was reported last night.
We have uncovered a harrowing case of a 14-year-old girl who went missing from Tusla just 24 hours after she was placed there. The child was missing for an entire year. She was then found in a brothel. She was a victim of unimaginable exploitation when she was supposedly in the Government’s protection. The Minister has refused in a follow-up question by ourselves to answer if anyone has ever been prosecuted for the trafficking and exploitation of that child. Children are being killed in the care of Tusla and known to Tusla.
Two hundred and thirty-five children known to child protection services have been killed in the last 12 years. There have been 13 homicides, 38 deaths as a result of suicide, and, in another parliamentary question from us, we learned that eight children were killed so far this year who were known to Tusla or in the care of Tusla. Mr. Justice John Jordan said that some of these failures are outrageous and an affront to the rule of law. He warned that Tusla is extraordinarily exposed to significant future compensation claims as a result of the harm that is being done to these children. Judge John Campbell stated that he was incandescent with rage that a secure bed could not be found for a child deemed at risk of death. He noted that children who should be getting ready for Santa Claus were being placed in unregulated placements. Judge Simms provided three important documents to the last Minister for children, Roderic O'Gorman, which were shredded. I believe this is one of the most disgusting, shocking scandals that has happened to children in the history of this State. When I first raised this in the Dáil four or five years ago, it was so horrendous that I was sure that the Government would put an end to these special emergency arrangements. It has not. It is actually getting worse. Will the Tánaiste give a commitment today and a date for when the Government will end the special emergency arrangements in this country?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23