A SISTER OF Daniel McAnaspie who was murdered 15 years ago while in the care of the State has called for a formal State apology.

Earlier this month, a jury in an inquest into the death of 17-year-old recommended that the State carry out an urgent review of its approach to child protection and welfare.

A verdict of unlawful killing was returned in the inquest, while the jury also made a number of other recommendations in the delivery of child protection and education services.

The teenager was murdered having been stabbed multiple times at Tolka Valley Park in Dublin on 26 February, 2010.

Cathriona McAnaspie, the sister of Daniel McAnaspie, said she hopes Tusla would “open its eyes” to helps children in care, because she is concerned the same thing could happen to another family.

“The heart ache we’ve went through for 15 years, I couldn’t imagine another family going through it,” she told the Oliver Callan programme on RTÉ Radio One.

“Daniel was murdered in 2014, we’re now 2025 and there are still kids waiting for beds.”

She added that it was “shocking” that of 26 specialist care beds available in Ireland, only 14 can be opened because of a lack of staffing.

In today’s RTÉ interview, Cathriona called for a formal State apology to the McAnaspie family in light of what happened to her younger brother.

“We’ve never had an apology of them in 25 years. They’ve never came to us they’ve never offered us counselling,” she said.

“It’s 15 years, they probably thought we were going away. We’re not going away, we’re still fighting for Daniel’s voice and we will continue to do that.”