Today’s report by the Child Law Project lays bare the dangers faced by vulnerable children as a result of Tusla’s shortcomings, according to Social Democrats children spokesperson Aidan Farrelly.
Deputy Farrelly said:
“Today’s report shows the Child and Family Agency has continued to fail to comply with court orders relating to vulnerable children – recently, dozens of children were found to be without a social worker in Limerick despite being in care for over a month.
“One child was found to be without a social worker for 22 weeks, despite being subject to a full care order – this is simply unacceptable.
“The severe shortage of social workers in Tusla circulation has begun to limit its abilities to adequately fulfil its role – the agency has not been fit for purpose for some time now.
“In these cases, Tusla was unable to confirm when a social worker would be allocated – similar failures have been observed in Dublin, exemplified by the 685 breaches of court orders which were found last year.
“At that time, Tusla CEO Kate Duggan accepted that the organisation was not fit to process court orders correctly – it’s clear now that nothing has been learned since then, and that failures persist.
“The Child Law Project also found that staff in care settings did not have the required training to uphold child protection standards, as well as challenges associated with those with additional needs, addiction or mental health issues who are taken into care.
“This report comes after over 100 senior Tusla workers expressed concerns that a reform timeline planned to begin at the beginning of January put kids ‘at significant risk of harm’ – to date, Tusla has not confirmed whether this programme of reform has begun to be implemented.
“Greater investment has been needed for years now as care needs become more complex – it is the government’s duty to appropriately fund Tusla so that special care places can be created and maintained, and it is Tusla’s duty to use these resources to properly staff and run the agency.
“The Minister for Children must now respond to the concerns raised in today’s report and provide further clarifications regarding the reform programme and its implementation.”
January 19th, 2026