Nine reports of child sex abuse made to Tusla by children themselves in three months
Figures show 29 children have died in State care since 2011, including eight by suicide and two by overdose.
There were nine reports of child sex abuse made to Tusla by the children themselves in only the first three months of this year.
They are among a startling 40,000 child welfare and abuse referrals made to the Child and Family Agency up to the end of June.
The newly-released figures give an overall total for the first six months of the year, but give a more detailed breakdown of the period from January to March.
As well as the nine sex abuse self-referrals, there were a further eight self-referrals by children reporting physical abuse in the first three months.
It comes as Tusla faces ongoing challenges in relation to recruitment and retention of social workers, which is leading to delays in services for children.
The new figures also show that 29 children have died in State care since 2011, including eight by suicide and two by drug overdose.
Another 193 children who were not in State care but were known to child protection services died in the same period, including 13 so far this year, and 20 last year.
Over the past decade 38 of these children, who were not in foster or residential placements, but who had come in contact with Tusla, died by suicide, 10 of them were murdered, and eight children died from drug overdoses.
Calls for a significant increase in social-worker numbers have been made to deal with what has been described as a "massive human crisis that is not getting the attention that it deserves".
The figures show that in the first three months of this year alone, 1,830 referrals from a range of people including gardaí, teachers, doctors, and other family members were made in relation to physical abuse; 1,284 referrals were made over sexual abuse concerns; and a further 1,070 cases were reported over neglect.
Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín said this year the figure looks set to hit 80,000 referrals based on 40,553 cases that were reported in the first six months of 2022.
"To put that in context it's more than the number of children who are enrolled in junior infants in the State in any given year. There are 37% more young people being referred to Tusla for suspected abuse than there are students sitting the Leaving Cert this year," he said.
Mr Tóibín said the number of social workers employed by Tusla needs to increase and a focus also needs to be placed on eradicating child neglect and abuse in the State.
"We need to identify the societal problems leading to Ireland's increasing failure of our children," he said.
"We need to learn how to strengthen our families and reduce the pressures on children. We can't just focus on the worsening symptoms. We have to start tackling the root causes of this disaster."
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