Over 40 reports made this year regarding children at risk of sexual exploitation

In a pre-election document from the Ombudsman for Children Niall Muldoon to TDs in recent days, Mr Muldoon said he wants the next Dáil to prioritise children in care through a range of measures. Picture: Maxwells 

More than 40 reports have been made to Tusla and gardaí of young people suspected of being at risk of sexual exploitation.

These include 24 reports relating to children in care, while the remaining 18 relate to children in the community, according to Tusla.

While the number of reports relating to children in care exceeds the number of such reports received in 2022, it is less than half of the 50 reports received for the entire 12 months of last year.

A spokesman for Tusla said: “It should be noted that the number of reports is not the same as the number of children, as a child can be subject to multiple reports.” 

In a pre-election document from the Ombudsman for Children Niall Muldoon to TDs in recent days, Mr Muldoon said he wants the next Dáil to prioritise children in care through a range of measures including a requirement on Tusla “to have a system in place to identify and support teenagers at risk of being sexually or criminally exploited”.

He also called for a specific focus on early intervention around teenagers at risk, many of whom go through the care system and/or the justice system.

The Tusla spokesman said the child and family agency is “acutely aware of the increased risk of child and human trafficking or exploitation of vulnerable young people, particularly in the context of the increased global movement of people”.

He said that the organisation has developed and implemented a child sexual exploitation procedure since 2021 which “assists professionals in identifying and protecting children who may be at risk of sexual exploitation”.

He also said that Tusla partnered in 2022 with MECPATHS which works with agencies to counter child trafficking, to train staff on how to recognise indicators of child trafficking in Ireland.

This training has been extended to include frontline staff in the community and voluntary services that we fund, particularly those providing residential care.

MECPATHS Network and Communications Manager JP O’Sullivan confirmed that Tusla staff have been receiving training over the past 18 months, with “close to 1,000 staff trained”.

He said two sessions of training will take place next month, with further training to get underway in January.

Over a year ago, the Protecting Against Predators study, published by the Sexual Exploitation Research Project (SERP) at University College Dublin (UCD) highlighted that children and young people, and in particular girls, in residential care or who go missing while in State care, are being targeted for sexual exploitation in an organised manner by co-ordinated networks, or gangs, of predatory men.

The report called for a risk audit of those residential care institutions by the Health Information and Quality Authority. They are currently overseen by Tusla, although some are run by private contractors.

Researchers interviewed 21 staff from 14 key agencies working with vulnerable children.

They found that trafficking and sexual exploitation of teenagers was a common feature, particularly among children in residential care settings.