Tusla called on to disclose number of individual children referred to agency last year

Ukrainian teenager Vadym Davydenko died after being stabbed multiple times in Tusla-provided emergency accommodation.

Tusla is being urged to disclose the number of individual children referred to the agency last year.

The call is being made by Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, instead of the number of referrals.

It follows a response to his parliamentary question from Tusla, which revealed it "does not currently collect re-referral data in a standardised form”, and could not provide figures for the number of repeat or multiple referrals made relating to individual children in 2024.

The agency outlined that 96,666 referrals were made to the agency in 2024, of which 51,777 related to “distinct children”. 

“Please note that some of these children may have been referred in 2023 or earlier, so based on the data for 2024, it is not possible to be definitive on the number that were repeat or multiple referrals relating to the same child. When publishing data, we note generally that ‘more than one referral can be received for a child, so the actual number of children referred is likely to be fewer’," Tusla said.

The response also said as part of a “broader initiative to strengthen our data management and reporting systems", it was reviewing metrics in order to be able to provide more comprehensive information in the future.

Mr Tóibín said: “We in Aontú believe that Tusla need to come clean here and disclose the number of individual children referred to them last year as opposed to the number of referrals. 

How many of these referrals are vexatious, and what steps are Tusla taking to reduce this? 

"Tusla seem keen to blame their problems with capacity on the migrant crisis across Europe, but the truth is that the problem in Tusla runs much deeper.” 

He said there had been incidents of concern in recent times concerning children who have gone missing in the care of the State, including the cases of Daniel Aruebose and Kyran Durnin.

He also cited the case of a Ukrainian teenager killed in Tusla-provided accommodation, and an alleged sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl who was in Tusla’s care.

Mr Tóibín called for more transparency from the agency, “starting with the referral numbers”.

In response, Tusla told the Irish Examiner: “In day-to day practice, every referral received in respect of a child is recorded on a child’s single record in Tusla’s care management system. 

"This means that all referrals received in respect of a child are considered and inform the overall response needed to that child. 

"This would include multiple reports of the same concern or multiple reports of different concerns. This ensures that patterns of referral always inform our responses to individual children.” 

In relation to the 2024 figures, the agency said, however, that 21% of 2024’s referrals did relate to children “who have been referred within 12 months of their referral being closed”.

It also said that from January 1, new structures had been put in place which included implementation of “a digital single child record and the reorganisation of our financial, IT and reporting systems to ensure we can meet all of our legal, statutory and financial requirements for full-year data”.