This week\u2019s report outlining Tusla\u2019s catastrophic shortcomings when complying with court directions affecting hundreds of children paints a picture of an organisation in dire need of a complete overhaul, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly.<\/p>\n
Deputy Farrelly, the party\u2019s Children spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week\u2019s decision of a judicial inquiry into Tusla\u2019s failure to act on hundreds of court orders indicates the organisation has become so broken that it cannot fulfil its most basic and essential duties.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow was this gross negligence allowed to go on for so long, and why did nobody feel the need to address these failings since senior officials were made aware of them in 2022?<\/p>\n
\u201cIreland will never be able to claim to be the best country in the world to be a child, a statement previously asserted as a government priority by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, if our most vulnerable children are slipping through the cracks of a fractured care system.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs highlighted in the judicial proceedings, oversight, governance and communication failures have led to this extraordinary dereliction of duty from Tusla.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s now clear that all channels between the agency and the Department of Children are so clogged that both bodies are oblivious when it comes to the other\u2019s functions – these structures must be reformed as soon as possible to improve outcomes for those in state care.<\/p>\n
\u201cEfforts must be made to reconvene the Oireachtas committee system to oversee these shortcomings before they degrade any further – it\u2019s shambolic that essential parliamentary processes have been halted due to an undemocratic backroom deal between the Taoiseach and Michael Lowry.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne judge has taken on the responsibility to hold Tusla to account by providing affected children with letters of their mistreatment – this is a responsibility that should be shouldered by the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst part of the avoidable havoc surrounding the Lowry Deal is it comes at the expense of vulnerable children around the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile a shortage of social workers is no excuse for the reality hundreds of children face as a result of these misgivings, successive governments have turned a blind eye to the sector\u2019s recruitment crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout sufficient staffing, more and more children will be denied the care they deserve.<\/p>\n
\u201cHas the Minister for Children been informed of this situation by Tusla, and has she instructed senior officials to create an action plan to address this deficit as a priority?<\/p>\n
\u201cTusla\u2019s Director of Services must also clarify the reason an apparent operational matter of this gravity was not escalated.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many children are now without a social worker? We\u2019re in the dark when it comes to oversight of essential services which are meant to form the backbone of society.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s now abundantly clear that Tusla must be reformed from top to bottom – it is no longer fit for purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
March 14th, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This week\u2019s report outlining Tusla\u2019s catastrophic shortcomings when complying with court directions affecting hundreds of children paints a picture of an organisation in dire need of a complete overhaul, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly. Deputy Farrelly, the party\u2019s Children spokesperson, said: \u201cThis week\u2019s decision of a judicial inquiry into Tusla\u2019s failure to act […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,540,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aidan-farrelly","category-children","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n