Tusla has 'never been better equipped', chair says, as he defends agency's record

Since Tusla was established 10 years ago, the number of child protection referrals being made in Ireland has more than doubled, to 96,666 last year.

There is a “unique” tendency to point the finger at child and family agency Tusla when a challenging case becomes public “irrespective of the facts”, its chair Pat Rabbitte has said.

In his foreward to Tusla’s annual report for 2024, the former minister and Labour party leader defended the agency, and said by almost every metric the demand on its services was growing but it had “never been better equipped to meet the complex challenges rushing towards it”.