2026-02-19

94. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide an update on her engagements with Tusla regarding well-being checks of closed cases; if she has received a progress report or interim report from the agency and-or the independent steering group; if she has requested a broadening of the scope of these checks; and the workforce planning conducted in respect of ensuring that the checks can be conducted as Tusla implements its integrated reform programme. [12617/26]

Will the Minister provide the House with an update on the Tusla well-being checks, which she instigated within her Department on foot of a number of very tragic cases last year, for all children and young people who had their cases closed by Tusla during the Covid years?

I appreciate the Deputy raising this as I know it is a hugely important issue to him, the House and the wider community. As he is aware, last September I requested Tusla to conduct a series of well-being checks for children whose cases were closed during the Covid-19 lockdown period. The Tusla well-being project team began its work last October. I am pleased to say that the project is making real progress, thanks to the dedication of the chair and the steering group, staff and colleagues right across Government. The project's steering group comprises Government Departments, key statutory agencies and stakeholders and, importantly, is independently chaired by Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance. I thank her and the steering group for their work. The steering group adopted the project methodology in December, taking into account the rights of the children and families involved in each of these cases. This approach enables the project to check each case against the most up-to-date information available on official registers and prioritise cases of significant or most concern. It ensures that the project operates in an effective but non-invasive or non-intrusive way. Following an initial review carried out by Tusla, it was determined that 76,546 children had referrals closed between 1 March 2020 and 28 February 2022. Approximately 42,000 cases had no new referrals or ongoing engagement with Tusla since the lockdown period. Following this review, approximately 18,000 cases were found to be of children who had since turned 18 years of age and were now deemed to be adults. Following internal legal advice within the Department, there is no legal basis for Tusla to conduct a well-being check on a young person over the age of 18. On this basis, 18,000 cases are outside the scope of the project. That is a cause of concern, and I assure the Deputy that I have raised that matter with the Attorney General and sought his advice on it. We will await that advice because I am conscious of that cohort of over-18s.

I thank the Minister because she has pre-empted the piece I was going to try to discuss with her. To be honest, I have come around to the idea of this project. At the start I was quite cautious because my understanding and the meaning I would infer from "well-being" would suggest that you are getting a thorough understanding of how a child or a young person is, as opposed to what I called at the time a proof-of-existence check - ultimately, that we are just making sure that the child is still alive and still existing within the State. We had an opportunity to meet Ms Ward and her team this week, and it was really informative. I can understand now very clearly the methodology and Tusla's aspirations in this process. I still have some outstanding concerns about the resources it might have to complete these checks. The Minister will not hear criticism from me in terms of the timeframe. If this takes months, it takes months and should be allowed to happen. I ask the Minister to talk to us a little more about that piece. If I was 12 in 2020 and my case was closed, I am outside the scope of this project. Is there a way in which we can amend legislation to ensure we can broaden the scope of this project for anyone over the age of 12?

I absolutely accept the Deputy's bona fides in relation to this as well. As I said previously in relation to other matters, we want the best outcome here. We want to be very sure and assured of the young people whose cases were closed. There is a specific issue around those who "aged out", to use that phrase, which I do not like, in terms of the sharing of information from Tusla's point of view. I would be very keen to ensure we would find a means to address that cohort of 18,000. I do not have the legal mechanism at the moment but I will rely on the expert advice of the Attorney General. I have spoken to him. We have engaged with him. That engagement is ongoing. He sees it as a priority as well. I know it is a priority for the chair, Tanya Ward, and the steering group as well. I absolutely assure the Deputy, if we can find the legal mechanism to do this, we will do it. I think it would be in the best interests of everyone. The Attorney General is working on that.

I thank the Minister for that update. I hear sincerity in her response and I give her my assurance that, from a Social Democrats perspective, whatever we can do to support the Government in trying to seek that legislative change in this instance, I think it would be really important. If we are going to do it, why not do it right in this instance in respect of 12-year-olds and 13-years-olds who experienced lockdown going through a very troubling transition between primary school and secondary school? It was a really troubled time. We need to hear from them in this process. Whatever we can do to support that, we will. I reiterate my thanks and commendation to those involved in this project because it is a significant undertaking. We have heard about the IT specialties that are required, the access to information and challenges. Before it even gets under way in real detail, I look forward to the recommendations that will come from this project in terms of future learnings for institutions of the State to make sure we have accurate information but also appropriate services to follow up. I look forward to further updates on this from the Minister and her Department as this project progresses.

I assure the Deputy that I am confident that learnings will come out of this, particularly cross-departmental, almost like eyes on a child and knowing where a child is at a given time, to support the child, in the best interests of the child. Some €3.2 million has been made available to support the work of this well-being check project. I have been receiving regular updates on the work of the steering group from the chair. The Deputy will be aware also of the press release that issued, I think, last week, which provided the public with details. I appreciate that Ms Ward and the team made themselves available to the Deputy as well because it is very important that here within the House there is an understanding of what is happening with the project. It was important that something would issue to the general public as well because the general public are interested too. We will continue to support Tusla in the work it does. The chair is independent. I respect that independence and am happy for her to proceed as she deems necessary.