Government commits to fund reporting on court cases involving children in State care

The 70 reports also included cases where sexual or criminal exploitation of children in State care was suspected.

The Government has committed to continuing to fund reporting on cases involving State care issues, as a call is made for an inter-departmental group to be set up to prioritise issues facing children in care.

It follows the publication on Monday of the latest batch of reports from the Child Law Project, which highlighted concerns about a lack of special care placements, as well as concerns about the availability of foster and residential care.

The 70 reports also included cases where sexual or criminal exploitation of children in State care was suspected.

The project has been in existence since 2013 and its current three-year grant expires in October.

However, it is understood the Child Law Project’s presence in courts for hearing on child care cases ended in early June and no commitment on a timeframe for funding to continue has been provided by the Government.

A spokesman for the Department of Children told the Irish Examiner the work of the Child Law Project “over the last number of years has been invaluable in the provision of empirical evidence regarding the many factors in play in childcare proceedings before our courts system”.

He added: “This department renews this project periodically through a competitive tender process. The most recent tender process concluded in late 2021, and the current project will conclude in October 2024 having operated for three years."

He said the Children's Minister had reiterated his intention "that funding will be made available for a future iteration of the court reporting project, which will be awarded by his department following a competitive procurement process". 

Meanwhile, the Irish Association of Social Workers and the Irish Foster Carer Association are calling for an inter-departmental working group to tackle the ongoing issues facing children in care.

The Irish Association of Social Workers said the working group would address “the underlying issues, including current deficiencies in interdepartmental and interagency cooperation and other factors that impact, for example, on the recruitment and retention of staff and foster carers, and the provision of residential care and Special Care services to children needing them”.

The Irish Foster Carer Association said “the status quo is no longer tenable”.