2026-03-19

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — child protection and welfare represent one of the most fundamental constitutional obligations of the State; — Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, operates as a statutory agency at arm's length from direct departmental control, funded by the Exchequer, but structurally separate from the Department of Children, Disability and Equality; — this governance model has resulted in: — blurred lines of accountability between the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, and Tusla; — delays in political responsiveness; and — ongoing difficulty for elected representatives seeking urgent intervention in serious child welfare matters; — over the past decade, repeated reviews and audits have highlighted: — delays in child protection assessments; — social worker recruitment and retention challenges; — a backlog in referrals; and — inconsistent case management standards; — Tusla's Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024, confirms that: — 451 organisations were funded under Section 56 arrangements; — 121 additional organisations were funded through the Education Support Service; and — a total of approximately 572 external organisations received funding in 2024; — the scale and fragmentation of these funding arrangements raises legitimate questions regarding: — administrative overheads; — governance duplication; — financial transparency; and — strategic coherence; and — in a number of comparable jurisdictions, child protection functions are directly embedded within Ministerial Departments, ensuring clearer democratic accountability; acknowledges that: — frontline social workers, and child protection professionals, perform critical and demanding work under significant pressure; — any reform must protect service continuity and safeguard vulnerable children; and — structural reform must be carefully phased, and evidence based; and calls on the Government to: — commission an independent governance review, examining the feasibility of dissolving Tusla as a separate legal entity, and transferring its statutory powers directly to the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality; — publish, within 12 months, a White Paper outlining options to: — establish a child protection directorate within the Department of Children, Disability and Equality; — consolidate policy and operational authority; — streamline funding and procurement structures; — enhance direct Ministerial accountability; — develop a phased transition plan, if recommended, over a 12 to 24-month period, to ensure uninterrupted service delivery; and — strengthen financial oversight mechanisms, including unified budgeting and improved reporting transparency to the Oireachtas; and — establish or reinforce an independent statutory inspectorate to ensure robust oversight under any revised governance model. I thank the people in my office who helped me to prepare this motion, including Mr. Ciarán Kenneally, Ms Eileen Kelly McCarthy and Mr. Max Keating, as well as Mr. Mark Nolan of Independent Ireland. They put in tremendous background work. The protection of children is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of any state. When a state intervenes in the life of a child, removes a child from danger or assumes the responsibility for a child's welfare, that state becomes the child's protector. That responsibility is not theoretical or administrative. It is, quite simply, moral. When a state assumes that responsibility, it must do so through a system that is clear, accountable, credible and capable of acting decisively when the child's safety is at risk. That is why the motion before the House today is so important. Child protection services are, of course, necessary. The question is whether the system through which we deliver those services is as functional and effective as it must be. Tusla was established in 2014 with the well-being of children as its objective. The State sought to create a specialised agency dedicated entirely to child protection and supporting the family. It was intended to bring together the services that had previously been framed and fragmented across different parts of the public system. That was the hope and the dedication of the agency at the time. It would provide focused professional expertise and improved outcomes for vulnerable children. That ambition was right. However, more than a decade after its establishment and considering the experiences we have had in this country, we must ask ourselves a very simple question. Has the structure we created, and its associated level of accountability and effectiveness in protecting children, truly worked? In addressing that question directly, it is important to acknowledge the extraordinary work of the carers and others who carry out the day-to-day work within the system. Social workers, family support services, foster carers, residential care staff and many others across the country perform one of the most difficult roles in the public service. They work with children who have experienced neglect, trauma and, in some cases, instability. They work with families in crisis and make complex decisions every day in circumstances that require judgment, compassion and professionalism. Their commitment deserves recognition from this House. However, those who are on the front line of those particular professional services deserve something else. They deserve, above all, a system that functions properly. They deserve leadership that is clear, governance that is coherent and accountability that is real. When the system begins to struggle, it is those exact front-line staff who are left carrying the heavy burden. That is neither fair to, nor safe for, the children they are trying to protect. Over the past number of years, we have heard repeated warnings about the conditions of the child protection system. Those warnings have come from regulators, the courts and by way of independent reports and inspections. HIQA inspections have repeatedly identified serious deficiencies in some areas of child protection services. They have highlighted delays in assessing risk to children, identified failures in case management and pointed to shortcomings in safety and safety planning. Certain inspections found there was non-compliance by some services with protection standards for children. These are not minor administrative oversights. They are issues that strike directly at the heart of the efficiency of the State in protecting the most vulnerable children. The courts have also voiced their concerns. Judges have criticised situations wherein children in State care have not been allocated a social worker despite the court ordering and requiring it. In some cases, hundreds of children were reported to have been without an assigned social worker at any given time. One judge recently described that situation as both shocking and extraordinary. When members of the Judiciary begin to use language of that nature, what they are saying cannot be called a casual remark. It is and should be a warning that something within the system is not functioning as it should. We have also heard of troubling incidents involving children missing from care and vulnerable young people being placed in emergency accommodation because suitable placements were not available. In fact, emergency arrangements that were intended to be exceptional have instead become the norm and a recurrence within this failing system. That fact alone should cause all of us in this House to pause and reflect. Tusla now operates with a budget that exceeds €1 billion. If I am not mistaken, it is nearly €1.3 billion. Hundreds of millions of euro are being distributed through funding arrangements within community organisations and voluntary services providing and delivering on behalf of the State. Many of those organisations do valuable and necessary support work but when the expenditure reaches such a scale, governance must be strong and accountability must be clear. That brings us to the central issue. The current system is built on a structure where responsibility is fragmented. Policy sits with the Department of children and operational delivery sits with the Tusla, a separate statutory agency. A large number of services are delivered through exceptional and external organisations funded through various programmes. This layered structure creates a distance between the authority and the accountability. When problems arise, as we have seen, responsibility becomes diffused across multiple levels of the system. When the protection of children is involved, we must have absolute clarity about that responsibility. When a child enters the care of the State, the child becomes the responsibility of the Republic itself. The question before this House is not whether Tusla performs important work; we all realise and accept that it does perform important work when it works well. The question is whether the governance structure surrounding that work remains fit for purpose. Other jurisdictions across Europe and further afield have confronted similar questions and adopted different types of models. In many countries, child protection services operate directly within the ministerial department. Policies, operations, leadership and accountability exist within a single structure. Is that not a good idea, to have one single structure? The responsibility is clear, accountability is direct and a state cannot distance itself from the outcome of the system. There is a principle that should guide us for this entire debate. When the State removes a child from their home, the State does not simply become a service provider; the State becomes the child's parents in every meaningful sense. The State assumes the responsibility for that child - that child's safety, that child's well-being and that child's future. No parents would accept a situation where responsibility for their child was unclear, where a system failed without consequences or where a system failed without accountability between different institutions. The State must hold itself to no lower standard. Children who enter the care of the State are not just statistics; they are not just reports; they are not simple entries in an administrative system. They are young people whose lives depend on the decisions we make in this House on the systems that structure the governance. If the structure responsible for the protection of them is not working, it should be the duty of all Members of this House not to defend the structure but to reform that structure. That is why this motion is important to this House. It proposes a carefully responsive process. It proposes that the Government commission an independent review, examining whether the current model remains the best structure for delivering child protection services. It proposes the publication of a White Paper outlining the options for reform. It proposes structural reform to be implemented through a phased transitional period of 24 months to ensure continuity of services. That is not reckless; it is simple leadership. Repeated inspections and court findings have given rise to public controversy and have raised concerns about the functionality of the system. The State cannot simply defend the status quo. The proposed Government amendment shows the State defending the status quo despite all the scandals, and the hand-wringing and crocodile tears in this House. We must have the courage to ask if the system that we have built is a system that children deserve. This motion is not about blaming any individuals or criticising the dedicated professionals working within the system. It is about recognising a simple truth. Structures matter and institutions matter. When the structure responsible for protecting vulnerable children shows signs of strain, the duty of the State is to examine it honestly and reform where necessary. Children who rely on State protection deserve a system that is clear and accountable, capable of acting decisively where their safety is at risk. Front-line professionals deserve leadership and support rather than leaving them carry on under the heavy burden of weaknesses. For that reason, I commend the motion to the House.

I thank Independent Ireland for putting this motion to the House today. This is a very serious issue and one that we in Aontú have raised over and over again in this Chamber for many years. We believe that vulnerable children are being exposed to shocking danger by this Government and by a broken system over which the Minister presides. The figures speak for themselves. The national review panel presents incredible figures. It has indicated that between 2014 and February 2026, a total of 235 children died either in State care or known to State care services. That is a colossal human tragedy happening in real time. In the Dáil, we often talk about the horror and the shocking situations that happened in the past, but this one is happening in our generation and is one that we, in this Dáil, are responsible for. Some of these cases have been incredible. In the first eight weeks of this year, five children in State care or known to the State services have died, which is shocking. One of those children was killed. One child died by suicide. Another child died in an accident and two children's deaths are still unexplained. In the last decade, the level of violence shown to children in State care is incredible. Thirteen children have been murdered and 38 children have died as result of suicide. These are horrific figures that should make any Government and any Dáil stand up in shock and seek to resolve. However, this shocking situation is seldom spoken about in Leinster House. It seldom gets to the front pages of the newspapers or the main headlines in the broadcast news. While this is happening in our generation, it is not focused on properly by the Government. Obviously, there are problems in Tusla, but many of the organisations that are also responsible for the welfare of children are not working seamlessly with those children. For example, Hugh was 16 when he died from a drug overdose after the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, would not take him. Niamh, another child under Tusla's care, died by suicide aged 15. She had also been deemed ineligible by CAMHS. Another report on a girl called Eva under Tusla's care showed that she had disclosed sexual abuse but nobody from Tusla spoke to her because the Tusla area she was in assumed that the social worker in another area was dealing with the particular case. She was discharged from CAMHS after a mere two appointments and her body was found a few weeks later. She was aged 14. I recently submitted parliamentary questions about trafficking. The Department admits that there is no mechanism to cross-reference children flagged as at risk of trafficking with those who are missing from care. That is a dereliction of duty. The responses to parliamentary questions submitted by Aontú in the last few weeks show an increase in child trafficking in this State from ten minors in 2024 to 18 minors in 2025, an 80% increase just in the space of one year. I know for a fact that that is just the tip of the iceberg because this country is really poor at following up on people trafficking. One of the biggest disasters of this Government has been the use of special emergency arrangements, SEAs. The fact that this is allowed to continue is a disgrace. It is shocking that the Government is still relying on special emergency arrangements. In 2023, I raised the issue of unvetted staff in these SEAs and the Minister at the time assured me that all staff were vetted. Now, in 2026, it has been revealed that Tusla was forced to terminate contracts with multiple staff members as it was disclosed that they had been working with vulnerable children without having been vetted. That is not a clinical error or some kind of bureaucratic mess; it is a fundamental breach of child safety laws. Under the Minister's tenure, there is no accountability for it whatsoever. Tusla has referred five private providers to the Garda National Vetting Bureau because they put staff in charge of children without proper background checks. That is the Minister's fault. It is unacceptable that children are being left with individuals who have not had background checks. Tusla has cut its monitoring visits by more than half at a time when the number of children in these locations is increasing significantly. The number of children in special emergency arrangements is going up; monitoring visits are being cut at the same time. Recent RTÉ reports have pulled back the curtains on this nightmare and have shown that children are being moved like cargo from hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation, sometimes with just a few hours' notice, and that these facilities lack proper oversight and fail to meet the State's duty of care. This has created major instability in these children's lives and made them vulnerable to danger, and the scale of this is increasing. We have reports of children living in filth, sleeping on urine-stained mattresses and being left without food in the house and, in some cases, staff who are meant to be in charge of them sleeping until 4 o'clock in the day. There is substantial expenditure in this space. In 2024, the Department spent €270 million on special emergency arrangements. Despite that investment, there are no proper standards for these children. The number of children put in these arrangements has doubled since 2023. One of the biggest problems I have is that when there is a crisis in housing, the Minister for housing is made responsible, and when there is a crisis in health, the Minister for Health is made responsible, but when there is a crisis in relation to the deaths of children in State care, Tusla is responsible and the Minister is not responsible at all. We have brought numerous crises to this Chamber over the past five years in relation to Tusla, and different Ministers for children have said they did not know about those situations at all. We recently submitted parliamentary questions about a young girl of 14 who was put in a placement in Tusla and who was taken by a criminal gang and found a year later in a brothel. The Garda will not tell us whether charges have been brought, whether someone has gone to court in relation to that or whether someone has been imprisoned for it. The Department is putting adults in children's accommodation. We had a shocking situation where Vadym Davydenko was murdered - killed - in children's accommodation by an individual who is now believed to have been an adult at the time. That is an horrendous dereliction of duty, and I believe that the Minister is not taking responsibility for it at all.

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "welcomes that: — Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, operates as the single dedicated agency with a clear statutory remit; — Tusla is held to account through robust governance and oversight arrangements; — Tusla is served by well qualified staff who are committed to delivering essential child protection and welfare services to vulnerable members of society; — staff in Tusla enjoy statutory independence, necessary for the performance of their duties in assessing and providing essential services to children and families; — Tusla has initiated a significant integrated Reform Programme in 2026, which is: — promoting equity in service availability, through more equitable Regions and Areas, consistent structures and spans of control, and transparent resource allocation; — promoting capacity, through targeting resources where most needed, scaling capacity in line with demand, and using evidence-based data for service planning; and — promoting quality, through more consistent, integrated, digitally enabled services, leaner business processes, multidisciplinary teams, and a focus on face-to-face time with children and families; and — these reforms provide for the creation of a single record for each child and young person, which will support integrated working, including a more streamlined referral and allocation system for residential care, improved communications, accurate data to improve decision making on an individual level, improved resource allocation and enhanced monitoring of performance on a local regional and organisational basis; notes that: — Tusla has experienced a 46 per cent increase in referrals since 2021, and a 500 per cent increase in separated children seeking international protection in Ireland since 2022; — in the almost 12 years since its establishment, Tusla's annual budget has more than doubled, going from €609 million in 2014, to over €1.3 billion for 2026; — Tusla has seen budget increases in most years, with significant investment annually since 2020, including a 14 per cent increase in 2026; — the increased funding for 2026 includes a capital budget allocation of €35 million, which will be directed to increasing Tusla-owned residential care settings, including special care, thereby reducing its requirement for privately operated Special Emergency Arrangements; — investment in recent budgets has allowed Tusla to, amongst other things: — increase supports to foster carers; — hire additional staff including social workers; — begin to increase capacity in residential care and special care; and — improve Internet Technology systems; — notwithstanding the increased demands, the good work of Tusla is evidenced by: — the overwhelming majority of referrals to Tusla resulting in children and parents being supported in their homes; — 99 per cent of children in care are assigned to an allocated key worker; — retention of high levels of children in care who are in foster care, as 87 per cent of all children in care are in foster care; — the increasing number of foster parents signing up to support children; — the Central Statistics Office finding that approximately nine in ten children who left care since April 2018, aged 18-23 years by January 2024, were in substantial employment, enrolled in school, or in Further or Higher Education for each of the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022; — the staff retention rate is 95 per cent; and — innovative solutions to recruitment challenges, including its work with the Higher Education sector in developing pathways to social work and social care work, and with CORU, in developing an apprenticeship pathway; and — so many community and voluntary groups nationwide carry out great work, funded and overseen by Tusla's Commissioned Services team, in providing essential services to vulnerable people, and this includes Family Resource Centres, counselling services and area-based childhood programmes; and further notes that Tusla, as an organisation of over 5,000 people, was established to have a specialist management team with a deep knowledge, experience and understanding of operational service delivery in the area of social work and social care, as opposed to the Department's more general focus on advancing policy and legislation, which extends to the important areas of Disability Services, Early Learning and Care and School Age Care and Equality.". I welcome the opportunity to speak about the governance of child protection and welfare. I agree with the Deputies' contention that the welfare and protection of children is among the State's most fundamental responsibilities. It is a duty that the Government takes with the utmost seriousness. I strongly welcome and endorse the recognition of the critical role performed by Tusla staff in delivering essential services, often in a very demanding environment, to the most vulnerable children and families. I wish to put on record my gratitude to the staff for their commitment and dedication to families and communities right across the country. I also acknowledge that this Private Members' motion reflects the most understandable public concerns about recent tragic cases involving children who had been in the care of Tusla or at some point were known to Tusla. I absolutely accept that it is right that there should be public concern, scrutiny and questions asked. However, in response to the call in this motion for the dissolution of Tusla and the transfer of its responsibilities to this Department, I do not agree. Let me outline in the first instance why Tusla was established in 2014. Tusla was established following a key recommendation of the 2012 Report of the Task Force on the Child and Family Support Agency. Its creation responded directly to systemic failures identified in 29 inquiries and reviews, which produced 551 recommendations on improving State responses to child abuse and child protection. Tusla's remit was always much broader than child protection and welfare alone. On its establishment, it took on the full functions of three existing national services - HSE children and family services, the Family Support Agency and the National Educational Welfare Board - as well as certain psychological services and services responding to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence at that time. The agency was mandated to deliver a coherent, integrated and accountable system, replacing the previously fragmented model spread across many bodies. The structure was designed to strengthen governance by bringing together the previously dispersed functions into a single unified body with its own management, oversight systems and statutory duties. Tusla's establishment represented the most significant reform of child safety in the history of the State. This model ensures that child safety and welfare, family support and educational welfare functions are exercised with professional independence, free from day-to-day departmental direction, while remaining fully accountable to the Minister under statute. Tusla is now an organisation of over 5,000 people, including over 1,700 social workers and over 1,400 social care workers. I know Deputies appreciate the complex and sensitive work Tusla staff do every single day to help children who often have no one else in their corner. I acknowledge the commitment of social workers, social care workers and all professionals who safeguard children every single day. Tusla is at the sharp end of a changing Irish society and confronts the consequences of drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence, mental health difficulties and intergenerational poverty, to name just a few challenges. For the information of the House, I want to put it on record that all referrals to Tusla are screened within 24 hours for risk of immediate harm. Where there is an immediate risk of harm, there is an immediate response. Tusla operates independently of day-to-day departmental control, and that is as it should be. It allows Tusla staff to deliver consistent, regulated and evidence-informed services nationwide for child protection and child welfare. Successive Governments have recognised the need to assign appropriate resources to Tusla. Investment in recent budgets has allowed Tusla, among other things, to increase supports to foster carers, hire additional staff, including social workers, begin to increase capacity in residential care and special care, and improve IT systems. Tusla's budget allocation in 2026 grew by 14% to €1.4 billion. This includes a capital allocation of €35 million, which will allow it to increase State-owned residential services and reduce reliance on special emergency arrangements. Recruitment and retention challenges exist across health, education and other sectors, and indeed across many sectors in the broader economy. Consequently, these staffing challenges are not unique to child protection. However, the Government has supported Tusla in expanding graduate pathways, establishing new apprenticeship routes, investing in specialist grades and improving retention. Year-on-year increases in Tusla staffing demonstrate the impact of these measures. I recognise the solutions Tusla is deploying, including its work with the higher education sector in developing pathways to social work and social care work and with CORU in developing an apprenticeship pathway. Another important development has been the foundation of a new children's residential services training college in Tusla's headquarters in Dublin to increase the number of staff available for special care centres. Tusla's mission is to support the safety and well-being of children, particularly those whose circumstances are complex or who need additional support. Every year, staff engage with tens of thousands of families, and the majority of those interactions are positive and successful. I commend the work of Tusla staff evidenced by the following. The overwhelming majority of over 106,000 referrals annually to Tusla result in children and parents being supported in their homes. Decisions are made based on the best information available at any point in time and include professional assessment, always with the child's welfare and safety at the centre of decisions. Wherever possible, and where it is considered safe to do so, children are supported to remain within their family, with safety plans and wider supports in place. Some 99% of children in care are assigned an allocated key worker. A high level of children in care - 87% - are retained in foster care. An increasing number of foster parents are signing up to support children. Last year, 223 new Tusla foster carers were approved, which is up from 211 in 2024 and is the highest number since 2020. The CSO has found that approximately 90% of children who left care since April 2018 and of all children aged 18-23 years by January 2024 were in substantial employment, enrolled in school, or in further or higher education for each of the years 2019-2022. The staff retention rate is 95% and the number of social workers and social care workers has grown from 2,830 whole-time equivalents in 2022 to 3,152 today. I have already made reference to innovative solutions to recruitment challenges. There are now 340 social work course places across eight colleges each year and an additional 25 places from two new colleges will be in place by January next year. Tusla’s workload is increasing all the time, with a 46% increase in the number of referrals received since 2021. Last year, as I said, Tusla received in excess of 106,000 referrals. In addition to this, there has been a 500% increase in separated children seeking international protection arriving in Ireland since 2022. I also wish to recognise the work of the community and voluntary sector, which plays a central role for Tusla in delivering early intervention, prevention and family support services at local level. Last year, Tusla provided approximately €231 million in funding to community, voluntary and charitable organisations delivering services for children and families on the ground on behalf of Tusla. These services include youth work programmes, counselling supports, parenting programmes, community-based family supports and family resource centres. As the House is aware, I have increased the number of family resource centres across the country by 15, to 136. Community, voluntary and charitable organisations delivering services for children and families with Tusla funding provide accessible supports that assist families on the ground. I want to assure Deputies that Tusla is held to account through robust governance and oversight arrangements. There are no blurred lines of accountability. While Tusla staff, quite correctly, have statutory independence necessary for the performance of their duties in assessing and providing essential services to children and families, Tusla’s actions as described in its annual business plan must align with the goals and priorities set for it in the annual performance statement. Tusla’s finances are closely monitored so that the Department is assured that Tusla is spending its budget only as approved at budget 2026. Tusla is subject to internal controls overseen by the audit and risk committee. It is audited annually by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Tusla has established policies, procedures and guidelines across all functions and service delivery areas. This suite of policies and procedures is the fundamental basis for good governance and control, and there is an onus on the Tusla board and subcommittees of the board to regularly review and update these as required. As Deputies are aware, a new chair, Ms Madeleine Clarke, has been appointed to Tusla. I have met with Ms Clarke and will continue to have regular engagement with her and the board to advance the work of Tusla. I also regularly engage with Ms Kate Duggan, the CEO of Tusla, to discuss matters of concern in Tusla’s ongoing reform programme. Tusla is accountable to the Oireachtas, particularly through the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children and Equality and the Committee of Public Accounts. Tusla’s work is also subject to external review by bodies including HIQA, the Ombudsman for Children, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Health and Safety Authority, the Comptroller and Auditor General and the national review panel. One of these oversight bodies, HIQA, in its most recent annual review of Tusla from 2024 stated, "children living in statutory residential care, foster care, special care and detention were receiving good quality safe care." I note that there are concerns expressed in the motion about Tusla’s engagement with elected representatives. I recognise the importance of keeping elected representatives informed and, indeed, Tusla is aware of that. Tusla is also conscious, as the Deputies will appreciate, of the importance of GDPR. Time is running against me but I want to also draw attention to the manner in which a significant programme of reform has been recently implemented in Tusla, which is a key part of its response to addressing any of the pressures it faces. Tusla's integrated reform programme has been in place since January 2026 and aims to promote equity in service availability, promote capacity and promote equality. I know the Deputies have been briefed on this reform measure. Regarding the response to high-profile tragic cases, I would like to address the steps we are taking with Tusla and others. Deputies will be aware that the national review panel carries out independent reviews of deaths of, and serious incidents involving, children in the care of Tusla. The Government is already progressing major legislative reform through the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2025, which will strengthen co-operation across State agencies, enhance the statutory framework and place the national review panel on a statutory footing. These reforms will address many of the issues raised in this motion without risking disruption to front-line services. I acknowledge the concerns motivating this motion but the Government cannot support the proposal to dissolve Tusla. It is an organisation of more than 5,000 people dedicated to the welfare and protection of children. The Government remains firmly committed to building a child protection system that is safe, robust, transparent and centred at all times on the best interests of the child. For that reason, I ask the House to support the Government's amendment to the motion, tabled to reflect this.

I am asking my colleagues in government and in opposition to support this Independent Ireland motion for one very simple reason. When it comes to protecting children, there can be no confusion about who is responsible and right now there is too much confusion. When something goes wrong in child protection in this country, what happens? The Department points to Tusla and Tusla points to the procedures and the Minister points to the fact that they do not deal with operational matters. The families are left standing there, waiting for help, for answers and for someone - anyone - to take responsibility. That is not good enough. This is not about the front-line staff, the social workers or the people on the ground. They are doing their level best. They are stretched and under pressure and many of them are carrying far more than they should have to. The system they are working in is where the problem lies. I see it every week in west Cork. Families come in the door at their wits' end. Referrals are made and nothing happens. Calls are made and no clear answers are obtained. The situation is getting worse while the system moves at its own pace. When we, as public representatives, try to intervene, we hit a wall and are told it is a matter for Tusla and that is the end of it. What good is that to a child who needs help today, not six months down the line? Without going into details, I had one case where a family waited and waited for engagement. They told me they did not know who to turn to any more. We recently encountered another case involving prolonged and serious sexual abuse for many years within a family home. This raises fundamental questions about Tusla's response. Where was the agency during this period? Why was action not taken? How were some of the most vulnerable individuals in our society left unprotected for so long? I had another recent case which involved a 14-year-old girl who was being groomed online by a man in his 40s. The child's mother sought assistance from Tusla and the girl was subsequently taken into care. However, the foster placement lacked adequate supervision, allowing the young girl to continue communicating with the perpetrator via her mobile phone. This was an extremely dangerous situation that should not have been allowed to occur under State care. I have another case where the mother was accused of inappropriate behaviour involving one of her own children. The children were removed from her care. The social worker involved is a neighbour of the children's father, giving rise to concerns of a potential conflict of interest. There are indications that proper procedures may not have been followed by either the social worker or Tusla. The mother was interviewed by An Garda Síochána and a file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. However, it now appears unlikely that any charges will be brought. The social worker involved and three additional Tusla staff members have been reported to CORU and are currently under investigation. In this particular case, it would appear that Tusla may have acted with undue haste in reaching a conclusion before all appropriate assessments and safeguards were in place. Then we look at the structures of the system. Hundreds of organisations are funded, layers upon layers, different streams, different processes and different lines of communication. Do not get me wrong, there is good work being done, but the system itself is too scattered, complicated and hard to follow. When something is too complicated, accountability gets lost and people fall through the cracks. Our motion is not about tearing anything down overnight. It is about asking a fair question, namely, is this structure working as it should? If it is not, are we willing to do something about it? Let us be honest, if everything was working perfectly, families would not be coming to us in distress. They would not be chasing responses. They would not feel that they are being passed around from one place to another, but they are and we all know it. What our motion is proposing is the common-sense approach of having an independent look at the system, laying out the options clearly and, if change is needed, doing it properly, carefully and in a way that protects services. That is not radical; it is responsible. If there is even a chance that changing the structure could speed things up, make accountability clear and deliver better outcomes for children, we have a duty to look at it seriously and not dismiss it, delay it or kick it down the road again. I urge all Deputies to support Independent Ireland's motion.

I thank Independent Ireland for bringing forward this motion. It is always important to take opportunities to discuss issues of child welfare and child protection and to ensure that all the regulations relating to those responsible for ensuring children in our State are safe, looked after and cared for adequately and properly are upheld. There are a number of issues I want to speak to in addressing this motion. The first is the allocation of social workers. For a long time now, there has been consistent criticism from judges in case after case where children are not allocated a social worker. With the reforms now under way, social care workers have come to me to tell me they are concerned they are going to be given roles and cases that should be given to social workers. It appears that, because we have such a serious shortage of social workers, an attempt is now being made to allocate children to other professionals who are not social workers to deal with that shortage, which has been an issue for some time now. In a recent response to me, Tusla said that all children and young people will continue to be overseen by social work management. I am concerned as to what "overseen" means. We obviously have a serious shortage of social workers. The idea that social workers would have some oversight responsibility within Tusla is concerning when we do not have enough of them on the ground in the first place. In saying this, I do not mean to diminish social care workers or the other professionals in the sector but social care workers are concerned they are going to be given cases that should be given to a social worker and that they are not qualified to deal with. They have raised that very issue and it needs to be looked at. We need to look at the reforms Tusla is moving ahead with to ensure they are going to make the existing service better. It needs to be better. It is not acceptable for children to be allocated to those in other professional grades rather than to social workers. If that is the plan, it cannot proceed. When I was looking at the number of children who are waiting to be allocated a social worker and the number of children allocated to other professional grades instead, I was reminded of the HIQA report into Tusla in the Dublin north city service area that was published last year. I have read a number of the report's findings into the record on a number of occasions. HIQA found poor governance and oversight at all management levels and that governance systems risks identified during an earlier inspection had not been addressed when inspectors came back for a second inspection. We have to remember the impact of not allocating social workers in a timely manner. I will again cite an example I have cited here a number of times. One of the implications, as identified in that HIQA inspection report, is that a child with a disability, who is non-verbal, was left awaiting the completion of a preliminary inquiry and safety planning for over two months. The worst finding of the report HIQA published is that, in the questionnaire the service itself returned ahead of that second inspection, it said it was compliant in almost every area. When the second inspection was carried out, it was found the service was compliant in very few areas but had misled HIQA in that questionnaire. There were really serious findings in that report. If we are now looking at a mechanism where people do not need to be qualified social workers when we already have serious issues with oversight and governance, that mechanism needs to be looked at again. There has recently been an issue with therapies for children, particularly play therapy, in the east and south east of the State. Tusla attempted to pull vital therapies for children in Carlow, Kilkenny and south Tipperary. These were due to be withdrawn at the end of this month. Foster carers in those counties put up a fight and a temporary resolution has been found. A similar issue is ongoing in Waterford. The idea that vital therapies would be taken away from children in care, particularly those in the care of foster carers who rely on those therapies and supports for the children in their care, is just incredible in this day and age. We need to see a similar resolution for Waterford so they do not have to battle like those in Carlow, Kilkenny and south Tipperary had to. I will move onto the special emergency arrangements. In this State in 2026, there should not be a single child in an unregulated and uninspected setting of any shape or form. It should not happen. The reason it is happening is that we have not built capacity in residential care and special care in the State. I note the Minister's amendment to this motion states that Tusla is beginning to build capacity. That needs to be ramped up as quickly as possible. We cannot have children in unregulated and uninspected settings. It is happening all of the time and Tusla appears to be more and more reliant on it. As was referred to earlier, Tusla has referred five providers to the Garda National Vetting Bureau with regard to concerns over Garda vetting. The idea that Garda vetting is not even checked in these settings as a basic requirement is really concerning. We need to see a ramping up of investment. That is where the frustration grows. It is sometimes too easy to blame Tusla and to point the finger at it. The Department and the Minister need to step up for children in care an awful lot more. Children who are in the care of the State are all of our responsibility. Everybody plays a role in child protection and child welfare, from childcare settings to our schools and the workplace. It is not just Tusla. We all have a responsibility. The Department and the Minister need to step up, particularly when it comes to residential places, capacity and special care. I have raised the issue of special care with the Minister many times. Of 26 beds, 15 are open today. There has been an ongoing and consistent issue with staffing special care beds. It is a challenging environment. Of that, there is no doubt. However, judges are concerned and are telling young people they have to go to special care but there are no beds for them. In some cases, there are threats to these children's lives but we have no bed for them although we have a number of idle beds in the State. It is not acceptable. We must get those beds staffed and open by whatever means necessary. The Minister's amendment makes the point that the number of foster parents is increasing. I have raised issues regarding foster carers and parents with her many times. Based on the Tusla figures I have, the numbers are falling. The Minister referred to 223 new foster carers coming in during 2025 but she did not mention that 250 ceased fostering that same year. Of course, foster carers cease fostering for a number of reasons but the number of foster carers is falling. In 2024, we had 3,809. Last year, we had 3,782. In every year since 2019, the number has fallen. In 2019, we had 4,130. We have more demand and more need and yet the number of foster carers is falling at a time when we need more of them. The single best place, setting or environment for a child who is in the care of the State is with a foster family. It is the place where they will be shown care and unconditional love, perhaps for the first time in their lives. We need to do an awful lot more to support our foster carers. I will again note that they get no State pension after decades of providing that level of care. Some have supported hundreds of children but, when they get to pension age, they have no State pension. It is unacceptable and we need to move on it as quickly as possible. We need to do a lot more in those three areas of special care, residential care and foster carers. There is now an onus on the Minister and her Department to step up and be more hands-on and involved in supporting children who are in the care of the State. They are the responsibility of all of us, of the Government and of the State. We need to do an awful lot more to support them. We cannot constantly point the finger and blame Tusla. We have an entire Department and it needs to do an awful lot more to support some of the most vulnerable children in our State.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an deis labhairt ar an rún seo. Tá saincheisteanna maidir le Tusla ardaithe agam sa Dáil arís agus arís eile. Níl sé sin ceart go leor. I commend Independent Ireland on bringing this motion to the Dáil. I welcome this opportunity as I have raised issues with regard to Tusla on numerous occasions both here in the Dáil and in the justice committee. It is clear that there are major problems. Children who need the care and protection of the State deserve the highest standards from the State but those standards are not always met. We also need to do much better in supporting young people who are leaving the care of the State. Too many children have gone missing and too many children have died. Last November, thejournal.ie reported that children in Tusla-run homes were reported missing on nearly 7,000 occasions from January 2020 to September 2025. When vulnerable children go missing, they are at severe risk of being exploited or harmed. Unfortunately, there have been high-profile cases of children who have been harmed after they have gone missing. There are major issues in Tusla in relation to staff shortages, over-stretched staff and high staff numbers. Too many vulnerable children have been left without a social worker. This problem is particularly acute in certain regions. Orders for the care of children have been not complied with on all occasions and senior management in Tusla who were aware of these issues failed to take appropriate action. There have been failures to inform the courts that children in care were not allocated a social worker. There have been multiple failures within the agency at all levels and we have a Department that washes its hands. There is long-standing shortage of social workers which is the result of Government failures and a lack planning. HIQA reviews have identified systemic governance issues, including inconsistent practice and delays in service delivery. There have been repeated findings of inadequate oversight and delayed assessments. There have been significant failures when it comes to communication with those whom Tusla interacts with. Tusla’s job is to protect the most vulnerable children in the State, to look after their welfare, to respond to concerns and to provide care services. That organisation, therefore, has to be held to the highest standards. There are lots of questions and we have heard lots of very concerning stories, both during this debate and over a long period of time. That is why concerns about Tusla and its capacity have been to the fore in our consideration of the International Protection Bill, which the Government is currently rushing through the Oireachtas. In the pre-legislative scrutiny report on the Bill, there was a warning that Tusla lacked the staffing, resources and operational capacity to meet what are going to be expanded statutory duties in respect of unaccompanied minors. The Bill is going to increase Tusla’s workload at a time when we know that organisation is under-resourced, overstretched and unable to meet its statutory duties for vulnerable children, including unaccompanied minors. On Committee Stage of the Bill a couple of weeks ago, I tabled a number of amendments to ensure Tusla will have the capacity, resources and staffing for the additional workload, as well as an amendment to end the use of unregulated special emergency arrangements. The Bill is not being progressed by the Minister’s Department, but will she give an indication in her closing remarks about whether it has inputted into this legislation? Given all the failings we have been speaking about, to add additional workload and responsibility onto Tusla at this time is dangerous. There have been significant issues with young people going missing from Tusla care. The majority of those who have gone missing have been unaccompanied minors in the international protection system. More than 1,100 children in Tusla's care were placed in what are called unregulated special emergency arrangements, SEAs, with no HIQA oversight whatsoever. This included the SEA facility where Vadym Davydenko was tragically killed. Last month in Dublin District Court, Judge Conor Fottrell severely criticised profiteering by private operators providing these unregulated placements for the most vulnerable children. He described it as wrong and shameful, and he was absolutely right in that. Notably, it was not the first time that Judge Fottrell or other judges spoke out about the failures of Tusla. It has been reported that Tusla stopped using eight private companies because they did not meet the required standards, and it referred five private operators to the Garda National Vetting Bureau. We know that a large proportion of those housed in special emergency arrangements are separated children seeking international protection and that is specifically why we raised these issues with the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, during the debate on international protection. His response was wholly unacceptable, and he is now rushing through legislation and ignoring the reality that State bodies, particularly Tusla, are at breaking point and are not equipped to cope with the additional workloads. These are issues that the Minister, Deputy Foley, has a responsibility to manage as well. One Department is burdening an agency under the control of her Department with significant additional responsibilities. She has a responsibility to inform this House whether she is satisfied that Tusla and her Department will be able to deal with the additional responsibilities that are coming their way.

Many people have been focused on Tusla recently because, unfortunately, we have had a slew of tragic cases. I am talking about Kyran Durnin, Vadym Davydenko, Daniel Aruebose and Oisín Reddin. We also cannot forget the case of the ten-year-old who had been in Tusla's care and the heinous attack on her. The Child Law Project went through a number of other cases that are harrowing. I agree with Deputy Kerrane that it is far too easy to get up in this House and slam Tusla. However, when we had Tusla in front of the children's committee, its representatives were quite specific about the fact that it is understaffed. Given the complexity of the issues that Tusla has to deal with these days, it is set up for failure if it is understaffed. This is not the first time that Deputy Kerrane and I, as well as Deputy Carthy in relation to international protection issues in particular, have raised these issues. We are talking about social workers. At the last count, there were 1,728 employed and the number rises to 1,754 with agency staff. Senior Tusla staff told us that number is 300 short of the complement required to deliver what is needed. There are 1,422 social care workers, but that is at least 100 too few. We are also talking about foster carers. My heart goes out to them. Any time I have engaged with those dealing with foster care on a long-term basis or an emergency set-up, I have been completely blown away. We need to commend them and give them any help that we can. There are issues that can be resolved, whether it is the pension issue or other specific issues that impact on how they carry out their day-to-day operations. In 2025, there were 3,782 foster carers. This was down significantly from 2019, when there were 4,130. I was told in a private conversation after that committee meeting that we are short at least 500 foster carers. That tells us straight out that we have a system that has an insufficient number of staff to deliver on the issues that are out there. While I welcome the fact that there is a new operational model and a different way of triaging and trying to introduce social care workers and social workers where needed, we have heard of multiple cases where a social worker was needed by some of most vulnerable in society but was not available for them. We also know that not only does Tusla deal with some complex and difficult circumstances, it also has a remit in relation to early interventions. We have not seen the State take this sufficiently seriously in relation to those supports that are needed by families and communities. Many of them have been failed. We are, in particular, talking about the supports needed in areas of high deprivation, where there are families who have had to deal with trauma, poverty, addiction and, at times, the failure of mental health services. It is being left too late because we do not have a system that has the capacity to enter. The circumstances and situation are allowed to get too bad. That is not to take away from the work Tusla staff do. I have interacted with many of those working with Tusla in recent times and they are doing fabulous work while under pressure. I have not seen that this organisation has the capacity to deal with the need that is out there. We talk about special emergency arrangements being unregulated. That says it all. We have created a system that does not have the capacity to look after those whom we need to look after. I welcome some of the work around apprenticeships and such. They are an absolute necessity. However, we need to make sure we have enough social workers, social care workers and foster carers. Alongside that, we also need to make sure we have a system that can meet families where they are at and that we then have the capacity to deal with those complex needs. At this point, it is failure. We need to see real improvement because we are talking about some of the most vulnerable in our society.

I will start by thanking Independent Ireland for bringing forward this important motion. It is very important that we talk in this Chamber about Tusla as often as we can. I have concerns around the motion as moved tonight, particularly around those services that, as contributors have said, are working well, those who are working well within the system and what would happened to them if we had to disband Tusla. Having said all that, there is no doubt that we need to see reform. We know that. That is why we are welcoming this discussion and the fact that Independent Ireland has brought forward this motion tonight. Much deeper reforms are needed within that organisation. Equally, we want to see the Minister for children become much more hands-on with the issue of child protection, as has been mentioned by other contributors tonight. In terms of reform, Tusla has initiated the integrated reform programme. This has not been done entirely with staff, and it has been the case that staff have been dragged along with this reform. This has led to a number of issues within the organisation. I believe a number of safeguarding concerns will be found to have resulted from this reform. I ask the Minister to engage with the Irish Association of Social Workers on these concerns. It has been highlighted to me that the Department of Children, Disability and Equality has recently changed the chief social worker within the Department to a principal officer. This was, as I understand it, already a position seconded from Tusla. I find both of these decisions concerning. First, the chief social worker is a key position in terms of policy advice for the Minister. They have practical knowledge and experience of child protection that cannot be replaced. Second, having someone seconded from Tusla removes the independence needed by social workers on the ground who have to raise their concerns. Having a colleague in this role seems to undermine that independence. The Minister of State will hopefully clarify that issue for the social workers in her reply. Over the last number of months, I have been raising the issue of special emergency arrangements and the serious safeguarding risks these pose to vulnerable children, as colleagues have mentioned. Tusla has handed out close to €240 million to 93 unregulated providers of SEAs. This includes one company that has been paid over €41 million. Will the Minister of State outline to the House why the Department and Tusla deem it acceptable to pay these clearly unqualified companies, like hotels, taxi companies and even the likes of Harvey Norman and the Irish School of Motoring, to provide care to vulnerable young people? What is the tendering process for special emergency arrangements? Is there any governance of these facilities? Are there ongoing inspections? How are they staffed? Are they staffed by trained social care workers? Have any safeguarding or child protection concerns been raised with Tusla? The Minister of State must use her time tonight to address the serious concerns that have been raised in this debate. The ombudsman has also raised concerns about these providers, stating that they do not meet the needs of children. The Minister of State will be well aware of reporting in thejournal.ie that young people are now facing criminal charges due to the damage in these facilities. The criminalisation of these young people is only going to further traumatise them. Fixing windows or doors should not be the primary concern of any provider of care. It must always be the immediate care of the young person concerned. We are told that these are only temporary arrangements, yet further reporting has shown that one young person spent close to three and a half years in these settings. Young people in care need stability. They need a safe place. Having a child spend three and a half years in a hotel, bed and breakfast or other temporary arrangement is a wasted childhood. Special emergency arrangements are a symptom of the chronic problems facing a number of our public services, including Tusla, namely, the privatisation and outsourcing of care, the lack of workforce planning and the ongoing housing and cost-of-living crisis, all of which we should be talking about as part of this debate. The SEAs highlight the increasing and ongoing privatisation of the caring sector. Tusla and the HSE are spending millions of euro on more expensive agency workers when it would be cheaper to recruit public workers. The money handed out to SEA providers could have been used to set up nearly 150 new residential centres, accommodating nearly 600 young people. That is where this money should be spent. We need to have a clearer workforce plan with targets to tackle to the lack of recruitment of social workers and social care workers in the public sector. This coincides with the expansion of public mainstream residential facilities for children. This recruitment challenge facing the sector is compounded by the ongoing failure of the Government to get to grips with the housing emergency in this country as well as the rising cost of living. Young people are now being left with little choice but to emigrate elsewhere for a better standard of living and to save for a mortgage. We now have a serious brain drain in this country across key and essential areas like social work and therapies such as occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. I also raise the decision to end the service-level agreement, SLA, for a specialist play therapy service in the Waterford-Wexford region. It was brought to my attention by a number of colleagues and foster carers in that area. The information was contained in a recent communication for Tusla's regional chief officer for the south east. Those involved tell me that, despite appearances, Tusla has not turned around its initial decision to end the SLA with St. Brigid's, thereby severely disrupting play therapies that are badly needed in the Waterford-Wexford region. However, it has changed the decision in Carlow-Kilkenny, delaying the ending of the SLAs, an issue I have raised previously with the Minister. The changes sound good. A hub is to be offered, staffed and ready in the future, but the question remains as to what happens to the foster children in the meantime, particularly those using the current service in the south east? I ask the Minister of State to talk to Tusla about these proposed changes. I also raise the idea of foster carers in general, supporting the calls here tonight of a State pension for all our foster carers, who go above and beyond day in, day out in helping this State on the great work they do. They are, without a doubt, in need of such a State pension and must be supported in their calls. I ask that the Minister of State take that on board. These are just some of the serious failures of the Government regarding child protection and supports in this country. We must address them urgently if we are to ensure the long-term future of young people and workers in this country. It is important that we are having this debate tonight and that we get urgent answers to the questions that many of us have raised in the Chamber. It is very important that Independent Ireland introduced this motion, and I look forward to the replies of the Minister of State to the many queries and concerns that Members have raised.

I acknowledge the work done by Deputy O'Flynn and the rest of Independent Ireland and thank them for introducing this motion. Ultimately, the Minister of State might have seen from some of the debate beforehand that there seems to be consensus about some things in this motion and a difference of opinion on others. A consensus has been reached when it comes to the acumen, personal qualities and professional attributes of those working in Tusla. We are very lucky as a state that the calibre of social worker and social care worker that we have at our disposal to work with children and young people throughout this country is not under question. That is why my analysis differs a little from the Deputies who proposed this motion, in that I do not really see the problem being the fault of Tusla at all. I actually think many of the structural problems faced in the service are down to a lack of investment and priority by successive Governments. Successive Governments have a history of not prioritising the rights of children and child protection issues, and how that manifests itself is us standing up in the Chamber or people getting outraged at the level of care they perceive are received from organisations such as Tusla when actually the problem is resourcing, beds and staff. That is where the Government, Minister and Department need to show a bit of urgency in responding. We cannot have a situation where a number of social workers have written to the CEO of Tusla to say the reform programme is not working yet, in her reply today, the Minister really championed the reform programme as an important part of Tusla’s development. There is a problem there. There is a breakdown in communication. We need an independent review of how the rollout of the programme of reform in Tusla has happened. To see 1,100 children in unregulated Tusla care is not okay. If nothing else was achieved by this motion, a firm commitment by the Government that it will put an end to SEAs within the lifetime of this Government would be something. It is doable and would be in the best interest of every child in this State. I am a professionally qualified social care worker. I did it for my undergraduate degree and I worked in social care settings for many years before I landed in youth work. We cannot have a situation where we have people who are not vetted but, equally, who are not trained to do what is often very nuanced, delicate, trauma-informed work. It is unacceptable in this day and age when we pride ourselves on holding care of the highest standards. It beggars belief that it is something Tusla or the Government would not only allow exist but to actually grow. It is just not okay. The Judiciary has highlighted many concerns about the rights of children and young people. One judge went as far as to say in recent weeks that the State is leaving itself open to serious claims of compensation in coming decades because of the blatant abandonment of the rights and services for children in State care. There are a number of different angles to take to approach this issue and a number of different Departments that might take responsibility but fundamentally it is the role of the Minister for children and disability to take this very seriously. The motion is very timely. I acknowledge the sincerity with which it was tabled today. We need to act with urgency. Having spoken to many social workers on the ground and many families, and having worked in communities in youth work or community work settings like many others here have over generations, it is not getting better. It is a race to the bottom when it comes to this and it goes back to resourcing. The big issue with regard to social care work and social work is they are both occupations and professions that people want to be involved in, yet year after year, when the CAO offers come out, we see that not enough people can matriculate. People cannot get themselves through school and into college. The points might be too high or the number of places too small. We need to be ambitious in trying to train up social care workers and social workers to meet an increasing demand for those services. We need to see schools across the country increase their capacity to make sure we can roll out enough social care workers and social workers to meet those needs. The response from the Minister highlighted there is much to be celebrated about Tusla. I agree but there are some ongoing concerns. Regarding the well-being checks the Minister initiated in 2025, I have to raise the issue of the significant number of young people who will be outside the scope of that review. We have made a request that those young people be part of that review. I ask the Minister of State to take that back and see what way we can achieve this legislatively to ensure that anyone aged 12 or 13 at the time of Covid and had their case closed is brought into scope quickly. Similarly, the Minister championed the idea that the national review panel would be put on a statutory footing as part of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill. Just today, the committee decided we were not ready to bring this Bill through Committee Stage yet because the Attorney General has not been in a position to bring the amendment forward regarding the national review panel. We need to see this work happening with urgency. I am not putting responsibility for this on the Minister of State whatever but the Government overall cannot afford to delay. It cannot afford to sit back and hope that the situation will improve when what we know is that the needs of young people and children are only becoming more dynamic, more diverse and more challenging. It is incumbent on the State to be responsive to those needs. I again commend Deputy O’Flynn. I take issue with the idea of commissioning a feasibility study that examines getting rid of Tusla. We have all been very critical of the Government and cannot then propose giving direct responsibility to same. There is a problem there. Without a credible alternative, the motion is hard to support because ultimately what will we end up without really understanding the problem is Tusla 2. I firmly believe in the staff and that the potential is there but we need to make sure the resourcing matches that potential.

Bhí mé ag éisteacht leis na Teachtaí go léir agus bhí mé ag scríobh agus iad ag caint. Aontaím le go leor de na rudaí atá ráite agus leis an méid a dúirt an Teachta Farrelly faoi Tusla agus an obair ar fad atá déanta ann. We have done all the work in that sense and completely demolishing it would be counterproductive. I commend Deputy O’Flynn. The motion goes to the heart of the most serious responsibilities the State has and that we all have as public representatives, which is the protection of children. The motion is not coming out of nowhere. Across the House, even in my own constituency, we have heard the continuous warnings and about the years of pressure on the system, with reports and families that I represent feeling unheard. I will refer later to a particular incident. It is real and I feel it in the areas I represent. People have reached out to my office ahead of the debate. They have been trying to get answers and to navigate a system which they feel is stretched and difficult to get answers from. I commend the Minister of State on her work on this. Over her entire career she has definitely been on the right side. I read replies to parliamentary questions prior to the debate and saw that Tusla received thousands of child-protection referrals. There were 22,000 open cases of which over one quarter waiting to be allocated. They are real children and families we all represent just waiting. Children do not need more bureaucracy or motions but implementation on the ground. The motion is pushing for that. When the system cannot respond in time, the consequences are serious. Multiple people have contacted my office. I was trying to contact one in particular but I do not have their permission so I will not mention their name. Their confidence was shaken when they went back to re-examine the case. It shows reform is needed. What I really want is delivery. Who is accountable? Who can be challenged? Who can act quickly enough when a child is at risk? I want to raise a specific case I have raised in this House three times. I would love for the Minister of State to take it on board. It relates to Tusla but it also relates to children, the State and the past as well. If something was not working in the past and has not been changed or explained we need to reform it. We need to reform it. We need stronger accountability and greater oversight. Reports are not worth anything if no one is going to implement them. If we are serious about solving this, we need to focus on what will make a difference. I have raised in the House a matter brought to me by a constituent, Mick Finnegan who has seen this through his work in relation to St. John Ambulance and how safeguarding concerns persist without an independent verification. It is not acceptable that children and young adults who were abused by members of St. John Ambulance are still waiting for answers. I would love the Minister to look into the case of Mick Finnegan and St. John Ambulance. This is the fourth time I have raised this matter in the House. I have followed up with the Department and it feels like it is not moving at a pace that is quick enough for the survivors. This is not political point scoring and I know the Minister of State will definitely chase this up. I am representing people in my constituency who want answers for what happened to them when they were young. I would love to see accountability and answers from St. John Ambulance for the people that I represent. They do not want this pushed back or kicked down the road. They want accountability for when the system failed and they want the people who abused the system to be punished rightfully.

I will conclude by again acknowledging the seriousness of the issues raised in this motion and the genuine concerns that motivate it. I have not heard all of the contributions but those that I have heard have been considered and informed. A number of issues were raised and I promise that those I have heard will be brought to the attention of the Minister. I cannot be sure of responses but I can guarantee that I will bring them to her attention. All of us agree here this evening that every child who comes to the attention of the State deserves safety, support and a system that responds effectively when they are at risk. That is the standard we must set and it is the standard this Government is committed to achieving. I reiterate the comments of the Minister, Deputy Foley, in expressing my deep appreciation for the more than 5,000 staff in Tusla who work every day with children and families in the most challenging circumstances. Their work is critical, often complex, not without risk and always carried out with professionalism and care. As the Minister has outlined, the proposal to dissolve Tusla and subsume its functions into the Department is neither prudent nor supported by the evidence. Tusla was created following decades of inquiries that called for a unified, accountable, professional, independent child protection agency. That model, carefully designed and grounded in statutory governance, remains the right one. It is important to say that Tusla today is undertaking a major programme of reform, improving governance, strengthening data systems, enhancing service access and building multidisciplinary teams. Its work is monitored robustly by the Department, by independent oversight bodies and by the Oireachtas. The Government continues to invest significantly, with increased funding, expanded recruitment pathways and strengthened supports for foster carers and residential care. The challenges are real. Demand is rising, risks are evolving, and recent tragic cases underscore the need for continual vigilance and improvement. That is why we are progressing legislative reform, advancing the well-being review, strengthening inter agency co-operation and placing the national review panel on a statutory footing. Dismantling the agency designed to address the very fragmentation highlighted in past inquiries would only set us back and it is fair to say that a number of colleagues recognised that during today's debate. It must be acknowledged that Tusla has experienced a 46% increase in referrals since 2021 and a 500% increase in separated children seeking international protection in Ireland since 2022. In the almost 12 years since its establishment, Tusla's annual budget has more than doubled from €609 million in 2014 to over €1.3 billion in 2026. This shows that the Government is prepared to invest and, indeed, is investing. Tusla has seen budget increases in most years, with significant investment annually since 2020, including a 14% increase in 2026. The Government is committed to providing these resources and investment in recent budgets has allowed Tusla, among other things, to increase supports for foster carers, to hire additional staff, including social workers, to begin to increase capacity in residential and special care, and to improve its information technology systems. Notwithstanding the increased demands, the good work of Tusla is evidenced by the fact that the overwhelming majority of referrals to Tusla result in children and parents being supported in their own homes. No less than 99% of children in care are assigned to an allocated key worker and high levels of children in care are in foster care. In fact, 87% of all children in care are in foster care in Ireland and we have increased the number of foster parents signing up to support children. The CSO has found that approximately nine out of every ten children who left care since April 2018, aged between 18 and 23 by January 2024, were either in substantial employment, enrolled in a school or in further or higher education for each of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. That is quite a significant statistic. The staff retention rate in Tusla is 95% and innovative solutions to recruitment challenges are being found. Work is under way in the higher education sector to develop pathways to social work and social care work with CORU using an apprenticeship model. That shows real ambition in training social care workers and is something I am trying to progress further. The great work of many community and voluntary groups nationwide, funded and overseen by Tusla's commissioned services team, in providing essential services to vulnerable people must be recognised. These include family resource centres, counselling services and area-based childhood programmes. Having listened to some of the debate, it is clear that while there is not full agreement across the Opposition on what needs to be done, there is full agreement that we need to have the debate and to seek answers. The Government's responsibility is to strengthen the system we have, not replace it with a model already shown to be inadequate, and to allow Tusla to further improve and evolve, learning from the past. The Government remains firmly committed to a child protection and welfare system that is safe, transparent, robust, and centred at all times on the best interests of the child. For these reasons, the Government cannot support the motion.

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I am rather disappointed that the senior Minister did not stay in the room for the rest of the debate but left early. I am also disappointed that we had no speakers from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael in the House. One would think that children's safety would be the most important thing on the mind of any elected representative. I thank colleagues from Sinn Féin for their support. I am also grateful for the support that came from the Labour Party and the Social Democrats, although we may have different thoughts on some aspects. I would suggest that if people did have problems with our motion or disagreed with it, they had the opportunity to put down amendments. I do not see any amendments coming from the Social Democrats at this particular time. The Minister of State spoke about statistics and gave some lovely figures. I know she admitted that she was not here for the whole debate but as the senior Minister seems to have wandered back to Plato's cave, I want to add these statistics to the debate. Over 4,000 children are waiting for social workers, with ongoing criticism from the courts. In 2025, one judge describing it as appalling and shocking that 250 children were not allocated social workers Tusla having been ordered to do so by the courts. Other issues include unvetted care workers in services in 2024. Whistleblowers have claimed that unvetted staff are working in private firms. We have the failure to provide care places from 2023 to 2025. Repeated criticism from the High Court and the Supreme Court has been levelled at Tusla. The Department of Children, Disablity and Equality accused Tusla of insufficient responses leading to a crisis. There have been high-profile cases involving missing children and scandals in 2025 and 2026. I will not mention names because I do not think it is right to mention the children's names but over €3 million in reviews has been spent in 42,000 cases. That seems absolutely astonishing to me. We have children dying who have been under the care of or highlighted to Tusla. A total of 235 children known to Tusla have died. Let us think about that - 235 children known to Tusla have died and the Government is still saying that Tusla is fit for purpose, there is nothing wrong, look the other way, it is grand, it is fine, there is no problem here lads. As I said, the Minister and this Government have to be living in Plato's cave. They are using Tusla as a scapegoat because they do not want to take on the responsibility themselves. They do not want to put up their hands and say, "Yes, we're taking on the responsibility. There's a Minister in charge." The Minister says she is in charge but any time you write to a Minister about a problem with Tusla, he or she will redirect you right to the chairperson. Any time you speak to the Department of Justice, Migration and Home Affairs about An Garda Síochána, you are told, "Write to the Commissioner, nothing to do with us, nothing to see here." What is the Government actually in charge of anymore? It has outsourced the problems because Ministers want to hang on to their seats, do not want to be criticised and want to be able to come into this House when a national scandal breaks and something in this country goes wrong and be able to say, "Nothing to do with the Government; that's an agency outside the Government's remit." When they want to hang their heads in shame, say lessons must be learned and wring their hands in here, they will do that no problem. A number of weeks ago, adults who were children of industrial schools were in this House and what do we do? We had to issue an apology. The Government is very good at issuing apologies but instead of trying to look good, why do we not do something good? Why not be honest with ourselves and with the public? I have listened to people in this House. The fact that no Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael person was here might be because they are not getting calls any more from their constituents. Maybe they just do not know what is going on in the country any more. Maybe they are so lost in the bubble that is Leinster House that they do not realise that people are picking up the phones to Opposition TDs, be they Sinn Féin, Independent Ireland, Labour or the Social Democrats, and telling them the truth about what is going on. About ten minutes before I came into this Chamber, a social worker was crying on the phone to me. I will give an example of something that is going on at the moment. We talk about how good this organisation is and the Comptroller and Auditor General. In one Tusla office in Cork, five years prior to a scandal breaking and a Garda investigation, the Comptroller and Auditor General flagged with Tusla the fact that thousands of euro were not being accounted for. It took Tusla three years to put in a procedure. At that time, €50,000 was the average of what was given out in pocket money where no book was there, nothing was assigned, there was not one document and there was not even an initial on it. It took Tusla three years to work it out and say, "Lads, we have to be realistic here. We should have a ledger saying how much cash is coming out to the safe." It was amazing that when that happened, it was reduced to €6,000 that was signed for the following year and the year after. That is how much pocket money there was - not the €50,000 for the past three years. When people are saying here that everything is fine and everything is dandy and rosy in the garden, we know it is not. I accept that this motion may have flaws but at least we are having the conversations and are telling people we are not satisfied with what is going on in this country. I have said repeatedly in this House that children are the most valuable thing we have. They are our future, are vulnerable and need to be protected. The Minister of State is coming along with flowery language saying everything is fine and that we are allocating this amount of money and that amount of money yet there are figures here that tell a very different story. The most recent story, which we all know, involved a ten-year-old child and the word "absconded" was used. I do not know how a ten-year-old with special needs absconds and ends up being allegedly sexually abused. That is the reality of this country We will all hang our heads in shame and say it is awful and terrible, we should learn from this mistake and it must never happen again but what do we do? We go out and we repeat the mistake over and over again one after another and then what do we do? We throw more money at it. It is a case of, "Don't look at it, it's fine, we'll have another committee and we'll put in another layer here and another layer there and we'll have a committee after this and we'll put more money into it" and we will not solve the real problems because the real problems might be just a bit more difficult to talk about. It might be a bit more difficult to do and it just proves one thing - that children do not matter to this State.

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the next weekly division time.