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

The Tánaiste has not given a date or a commitment that these will be closed completely. The "RTÉ Investigates" programme was of great value but there was one problem with it. The Minister for children was invisible in that show. Tusla is not operating in a vacuum. Tusla is a product of the Tánaiste's Government. It is a responsibility of the Government's Minister. The lack of funds and the lack of social workers is a policy choice by the Government. This scandal is unfolding in Tusla. It ranks up there with many of the scandals in the past but the difference is that this is unfolding in real time for the Government, and Tusla cannot be used as some kind of insulation blanket to separate the Tánaiste's Government from the responsibility for this horror. The Tánaiste said once that he wanted this country to be the best country in the world to be a child. For many of these children, with these horrors, it is one of the worst countries in the world to be a child at the moment. Children are being killed, raped and groomed at a cost of €14,000 a week to the State. When will there be accountability? When will the resources be matched to the needs? Will the Tánaiste give a date and a commitment that by the end of this year, these SEAs will be closed?

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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