46 children died in care system since 2010

Forty-six children known to care services have died since the start of 2010 including 13 in the first four months of this year, with the HSE admitting that its frontline services are under pressure.

The figures were revealed as the independent National Review Panel (NRP), charged with investigating the circumstances of deaths in care, published six detailed files relating to five deaths and one serious incident.

Three deaths followed an accident, one was a suicide and one was natural causes. It found examples of both good and bad practice in the cases, with concerns over a growing number of neglect cases and shortcomings in how they are dealt with.