Five child refugees still missing since 2024 from Tusla care

New figures show that 36 children were missing from Tusla care on December 4 last year. Of these, 28 were separated children seeking asylum. File photo

Five child asylum seekers who went missing from Tusla care in 2024 have still not been located and returned to care.

New figures show that 36 children were missing from Tusla care on December 4 last year. Of these, 28 were separated children seeking asylum.

The figures were provided to Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, who asked for confirmation on the total number of children who have been reported missing since the agency was founded, the number of whom have been located, and the number whose whereabouts remain unknown.

However, the response to his parliamentary question to children’s minister Norma Foley did not confirm any of these details.

She further confirmed that prior to August 2023, “missing children from care data were not part of Tusla's collated data or national metrics”. Instead, she stated, the information was noted in individual case files. The information is now “collated manually” on a bi-weekly basis.

On December 4, some 36 young people were missing from Tusla care. This included eight children from “mainstream” services, and 28 separated children seeking asylum.

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Of the 28 children in the asylum process, one had been missing for less than one week, while 27 were missing for more than two weeks. Some 22 of these young people went missing in 2025, while another five went missing in 2024.

“Children missing from care who are unaccounted for are predominantly a phenomenon involving Separated Children Seeking International Protection,” Ms Foley told Mr Tóibín.

“Some of these Separated Children Seeking International Protection indicated that it was never their intention to remain in Ireland, that they intended to travel on to other countries to join family members, and left soon after they arrived in the country.”

Some 78 young people seeking asylum who had gone missing since the start of 2025 were all “returned or accounted for”. It was noted that “most” children who go missing are usually 16 or 17 years old.

Of the eight children missing from “mainstream” care on December 4, seven were missing for three days or fewer, while the other child was missing for more than two weeks.

All young people reported as missing from Tusla care in 2023 and 2024 had been located, with “most of the young people in mainstream care reported as ‘missing’, returned to their placement after a brief period of time”.

Aontu leader Peadar Toibin: 'This is an emergency situation. Where are these children? Whose company are they in?' File photo: Brian Lawless/PA

Mr Tóibín stated it was “extremely concerning” that 36 children were missing as he criticised the “tone” of Ms Foley’s response.

“She has put the word ‘missing’ in inverted commas and suggested that some of the children were immigrants who probably just went home to their own countries,” he said.

“There are eight children missing from mainstream care and 28 missing who are unaccompanied minors seeking international protection.

“This is an emergency situation. Where are these children? Whose company are they in?

“The State is acting as parents for these children, but the State is proving itself a bad parent."