93. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of children in State care who have reported being sexually abused in each of the past ten years, and to date in 2025. [20961/25]

Sentiment score: 0.02

A series of documents and emails that were exchanged between the Minister and the CEO of Tusla have been released to me under freedom of information legislation. They paint a very bleak picture of what is happening with the welfare of children in State care. How many children in care have been reported to have been sexually abused in recent years?

Sentiment score: 0.37

There have been 221 reported cases of sexual abuse of children in State care in the past ten years. That is a very dark figure. The other information I have received shows that, at the moment, there are 37 children missing from Tusla care, which is disastrous. Since 2021, Tusla has made referrals to the Garda of 161 children who are suspected of being victims of child sexual exploitation, 115 of which children were in care and 46 of whom were known to Tusla. Since 2014, 235 children have died who were either in State care or were known to State care. Ten of these children were murdered and 51 of them died because of suicide or drug overdoses. Again, these are shocking figures. The reliance of Tusla on special emergency accommodation is incredible and we know that companies, to which Tusla has paid millions of euro, have actually falsified documents relating to verification. At present, is the Minister sure that 100% of people working in special emergency accommodation are Garda vetted?

Sentiment score: -0.18

It is a pity we have so little time because there actually are so many important things here for both of us to discuss. I will quickly refer to the story on RTÉ today on the Grace report. That particular story on RTÉ reported that legal officials responsible for the affairs of the woman known as Grace claim that extensive submissions made to the commission by lawyers representing the woman were not included or referred to in any way in the commission's final report. The Minister must be deeply frustrated, like everybody else, if that is the case. How can it be justified that solicitors, who were the voice of Grace, were silenced by the commission in its final report? There are other cases the national independent review panel is looking at. There are five other cases, such as the Brandon report in Donegal and the report of a 17-year-old girl who died by suicide. When will these reports be published? We need to get to grips with what is happening in our care system in this country.

Sentiment score: 0.13

95. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of community disability network teams across the country which are fully staffed and the number which are not. [20957/25]

Sentiment score: 0.05

In recent days I have received significant information that there is an independent review of the children's disability network team service model. It has been obvious to most people that this system is completely broken around the country. Will the Minister today confirm to the Dáil that the entire CDNT service model is being independently reviewed?

Sentiment score: -0.11

My information indicates that the independent review has been commenced by the National Disability Authority. The Minister of State might confirm in her answer if that is the case. The figures I have seen as to what is happening in the CDNTs are absolutely shocking. They are unbelievable. In 2023 there were 817 vacancies in CDNTs across the country. In CHO 1 there has been a drop-off of 22% in therapy hours in the space of a year. Some 44% of CDNT posts in the HSE are vacant at the moment. Some 43% of psychologist posts are vacant at the moment, 62% in CHO 1 and 59% in CHO 5. That is a failure on a monumental scale when we see that the majority of those posts are empty. In my constituency I have seen children waiting for 14 months to get onto CDNTs and some cases where children are being bounced between CAMHS, CDNTs and therapy services without ever ending up on a waiting list at all. The Minister of State has to agree that this is outrageous.

Sentiment score: -0.08

I indicated the massive figures of absences and vacancies in the sector but I want to drill down to what this means for an individual child. I have been contacted by a constituent who is a foster mother of a child. She has worked tirelessly to help her young boy. The boy presents with significant complex behavioural problems and has been expelled from two preschools and four times already from primary schools. He is currently on reduced school hours because of the situation and he is falling back in his education massively. Despite urgent GP referrals to CAMHS, he is facing a 14- to 18-month wait for an initial assessment. In the meantime, his condition is deteriorating and his education is severely disrupted. Referrals to speech and language therapy and other services have yielded nothing but long waiting times, and his GP believes he needs immediate interventionist care. The foster mother, who is doing her utmost for this child, has contacted Tusla, CAMHS, disability services, social workers, private psychologists - everywhere she turns she meets delays. That is what those absences, those massive levels of vacancies, mean to an individual child.

Sentiment score: -0.00

It is pay, terms and conditions.

Sentiment score: -0.10