Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

Deputy Kerrane spoke about the absolute necessity that the Minister meet with AGALI. We are talking about the role of guardians ad litem as the voice of children. Deputy Kerrane made the points in that regard clearly and saliently. The Minister needs to engage with those at the coalface doing this work.
We have heard much about Tusla and, as Deputy Kerrane said, there is much we welcome in this legislation. We want the guidelines to be the best they can be in ensuring child welfare. We are all aware of recent issues, including the cases of Kyran Durnin, Daniel Aruebose, Vadym Davydenko, Oisín Reddin and the really brutal assault on a ten-year-old girl. Other harrowing cases have been highlighted by the Child Law Project. I accept that the Minister is, in dealing with Tusla, often dealing with its failures. We need to ensure we have a system that is fit for purpose, which it is not at the moment.
I welcome a considerable amount of the interaction we have had with Tusla. When its representatives appeared before the children's committee last Thursday, they spoke about their new model and structure and said they are now better at assessing and dealing with cases and ensuring their organisation is more fit for purpose in its operations. However, we are looking at the possibility of having 300 too few social workers and at least 100 too few social care workers. That tells me we do not have a system that is fit for purpose.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27