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”.

“Unfortunately, there will continue to be the occasional legacy issue and even the occasional inadequate response, as well as the certainty that new and challenging cases will emerge,” he said.

The agency is often constrained in how it can respond, and, in such circumstances, staff can only strive to be the best that they can.

Tusla’s annual report for 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of its establishment. In that time, the number of child protection referrals being made in Ireland has more than doubled, to 96,666 last year.

This is the highest on record, and Tusla expects those numbers to exceed 100,000 this year. It means 385 child protection referrals were made every working day in 2024.

It said the most common type of concern reported last year was emotional abuse, at 45%, followed by physical abuse at 25%, neglect at 15% and sexual abuse at 15%.

An Garda Síochána accounted for close to one in three of all referrals received, while teachers accounted for one in 10.

Tusla said the increase in referrals reflected rising pressures on families, including cost-of-living challenges, homelessness, domestic violence, addiction and global displacement.

Demand for its services increased across the board, from education and family support to residential care and services for children seeking international protection.

In terms of children seeking international protection and arriving by Ukraine, it said there was a risk it would not be able to provide services in line with standards and regulations “due to the significant increase in the number of arrivals and the lack of sufficient resources to meet the demand”.

“This could result in a large number of children being placed in special emergency arrangements,” it said.

There remains a risk of reduced public confidence in the agency due to adverse findings from statutory investigations, inspections and serious incidents.

Tusla also said it also worked with more than 25,000 children in 2024, with targeted supports to ensure they attended and stayed in school. Part of these supports included after-school programmes, homework clubs, sports and arts, as well as holiday programmes.

At secondary school-level, the projects were more targeted, including one-to-one support for young people to help them stay in school until they reach the Leaving Certificate.

Meanwhile, it said 916 children were taken into care, including 604 taken into care for the first time.

In all, 5,823 children were in care across 2024, with 87% of them in foster care. It opened an extra 47 residential care beds as it aimed to scale up its capacity.

Furthermore, 2,935 young people were in aftercare, with nine in 10 of those leaving care entering employment, training or further education.