THERE WAS TENSION in the room today as Tusla bosses briefed politicians on the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Equality; they couldn’t talk about the recent high profile cases of children going missing and dying in care. 

Kate Duggan, the CEO, acknowledged as much: 

“I want to address the recent tragic and significant incidents involving four young people known to our services as CEO. I understand the concerns of the wider public, and I recognise the impact this has had on families, communities and our staff. While I cannot comment on the specifics of these cases as there are ongoing investigations… I can assure you that we are working with An Garda Síochána in relation to these investigations,” she said. 

Fianna Fáil’s Margaret Murphy O’Mahony pressed Duggan regardless: “With the recent things that went wrong with fatal incidents, missing children, I suppose public confidence has been lost.”

“So I was just wondering, how are you going to get that back? And have you ever considered an independent external review to see what they came up with? Would you be committed to that and would you commit to publishing the findings of that external review,” she asked. 

O’Mahony was referencing the recent fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Vadym Davydenko, who was living in a Tusla contracted special emergency placement, the death of Daniel Aruebose, the case of missing child Kyran Durnin, and recent reports that a 10-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted after going missing while on an outing with Tusla workers. 

Duggan said that Tusla already has oversight from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) as well as financial oversight from the Comptroller and Auditor General.

She also said that a review into special care availability in the country has been completed, and 30 recommendations are being implemented on foot of it. 

Before the meeting, Tusla submitted an update sheet to the committee which stated that in 2024 it dealt with 96,666 referrals (in today’s meeting, Duggan said that the figure for 2025 is expected to be between 105,000 and 107,000), and that over 23,000 cases were open to social workers at the year end. 

The agency further stated that since 2022 there has been a 500% increase in the number of unaccompanied minors and young people from Ukraine requiring services, and that as of the end of October, there are over 551 children in this cohort being accommodated by the Child and Family Agency. 

It stated that it’s experiencing unprecedented demand for all types of placements (including foster homes), and so where regulated places aren’t available, Tusla is putting children in ‘Special Emergency Placements’ – which are unregulated placements offered by private providers. 

Tusla said it is aiming to open 8 new residential centres in 2026 which would accommodate over 30 children, and that plans are currently underway to have 52 additional statutory beds by next year. 

While the politicians on the committee recognised the difficult work that the Child and Family Agency carries out, mention of implementing recommendations from past reports did not satisfy them. 

“The documents provided to this committee are saturated with procedural language and passive phrasing, planning stages, strategic reviews, steering groups. These are not safeguards. These are not timelines and they are not answers. While children are missing, while tragedies occur. 

“I acknowledge that resourcing challenges exist, but that cannot be the only explanation for repeated failures. I believe that Tusla, structurally in your governance, in your oversight, is failing some of our children,” Senator Sharon Keoghan said. 

A lack of resources or major structural problems? 

Duggan was asked if funding is the core issue at hand, or if the agency is experiencing structural and governance issues.  

She said that a “complete restructuring” of Tusla is taking place which will “go live” from 1 January. 

This ‘Reform Programme’ will involve Tusla moving from 4 regions to 6, and moving from 17 areas to 32 networks within those regions. 

This is a major change and will involve some children being allocated a different social worker, it’s understood. 

Tusla in its annual reports has previously mentioned that Forsa, the union, has been involved with talks between staff and higher management on the implications of this reform. 

Today Duggan said that the agency is on track for those changes to go live from the start of 2026. 

It will also involve a ‘digital transformation strategy’ and increased recruitment and supply initiatives. 

Special care capacity not meeting demand 

Duggan said that Tusla is keenly aware of the challenges it is facing, chief among them “workforce supply issues” which has led to a number of children not having an allocated social worker who are supposed to have one.

She said that as of the 16 November 2025, there were 58 young people from mainstream services in special emergency arrangements, and 105 unaccompanied minors (children who arrived in Ireland from other countries without a guardian). 

“We are significantly challenged by our ability to place children in special care, when they have a special care order from the High Court and we don’t have the capacity,” Duggan further said.