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TRIBUTES WERE PAID to Daniel Aruebose in the Dáil today, with calls for a statutory inquiry into the young boy’s death and Tusla’s handling of his case.
Concerns for Daniel’s welfare were raised to gardaí by the child and family agency Tusla on 29 August of this year.
He was last seen alive at the age of around three and a half in Donabate, and if still alive, would now be seven years old.
Responding to questions from Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan and his call for a statutory inquiry during Leaders’ Questions today, Tánaiste Simon Harris said nothing can be ruled out at this stage.
O’Callaghan told the Dáil that while we do not yet know the full details of what happened to Daniel, we do know that something “very seriously went wrong”.
“A bright and bubbly child died and disappeared, and no one noticed. Sadly, this is not the only time this has happened. Kyran Durnin disappeared in 2022 and is presumed dead. Nobody noticed he was missing until late last year.
“It’s horrifying that children can simply disappear in this country,” O’Callaghan told the Dáil.
Although Tusla is conducting a rapid review of its interactions with Daniel’s family and it has referred the case to a national review panel, O’Callaghan said the agency’s response to Daniel’s death has not been good enough.
“An independent statutory review should be triggered in every case of a child known to Tusla who disappears. This is the bare minimum these children deserve. This is not to apportion blame. It’s to find out what went wrong, to make sure it never happens again, to prevent more children disappearing and dying,” O’Callaghan said.
He added: “Daniel was failed in life. Let’s not fail him in death.”
In response, Tánaiste Simon Harris began by offering his condolences to Daniel’s foster family (Daniel’s foster sister spoke to The Journal yesterday about their devastation) and said that, in terms of any inquiry, nothing can be ruled out at this time.
“I don’t pull anything out at this stage, because I think this is a deeply distressing situation that is somewhat evolving in terms of what we’re learning in real time,” the Tánaiste said.
He added that once Tusla’s rapid review is completed in the coming days, it will be shared with the National Review Panel, which will examine any engagement Daniel and his parents had with State services.
He also noted that, separate from this, there will be a child well-being review of all child welfare cases that were closed during the pandemic and that there are a number of commitments to strengthen child well-being legislation.
A Garda investigation is also currently underway.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the discovery of the child’s remains was “deeply, deeply shocking and very, very sad”.
“The family, the community, and I think wider society, are deeply saddened, particularly when you know the photographs emerged, which put a person and an identity on to what was prior to that – you didn’t realise who the boy was.
“We have to await further investigations by the gardaí and by others into the background here to then inform us in terms of how we take this forward.”
He added: “It’s very poignant, very sad to see a young, beautiful child go missing and to die.”
Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships, Martin said the case was a “reflection on wider society and all of us”.
He echoed remarks from his Fianna Fáil colleague and Children’s Minister Norma Foley about examining how children are “tracked” in state systems such as education.
He noted challenges with a growing population and more “fluidity in movement” in and out of the country.
“There are issues that we would examine, but I think we have to do it on an evidence-based and informed manner – but it’s very, very sad.”
Asked about Labour’s call for a “root-and-branch” review of Ireland’s child protective services, Martin said he was concerned about a “rush to judgment”.
Martin said: “We need to be very careful about our language. There are many genuine, lots of genuine people working in Tusla, working flat out.
“Carelessly using language and conflating Tusla with what happened here is wrong in advance of finding out what actually happened here.”
Martin said Ireland’s police service An Garda Siochana would continue investigations and added that the Government will conduct a “broader examination” of child services.
“In many of these situations is the intersection of privacy, of family and state engagement.”
He added: “There is an issue around tracking and making sure that we have better systems to understand if a child is moving out of one locality, one parish, one school or whatever, that through our health system and through our education system, that we have a better capacity to follow that.”
With reporting from Press Association
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