Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman has taken the unusual step of making a request for Tusla to send its files on Kyran Durnin – the eight-year-old boy from Drogheda, Co Louth believed by gardaí to have been killed up to two years ago – to a specialist panel which looks into the death of any child with links to State care.
Such files are normally sent to the National Review Panel after a Garda, or other, investigation has concluded. But given the unusual nature of the case, the Green Party leader confirmed he has asked for an immediate transfer of the files, even though an investigation only commenced in recent days.
Kyran was officially reported missing from his home in Drogheda, Co Louth, in late August, alongside his mother, Dayla Durnin (24). However, after she was found safe and well in the UK in September without her son, gardaí launched an investigation into his disappearance. The last positive sighting of him was in May 2022 when he was six years of age. Gardaí are now investigating if the child was killed two years ago.
Separately, authorities are trying to ascertain how the disappearance of the boy, who was withdrawn from school in 2022, went unnoticed for well over two years. It was believed at the time he may have transferred to a school in Northern Ireland. There had been some contact between Tusla and the child’s family before his disappearance.
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Speaking on Monday, Mr O’Gorman said that once the Garda investigation is complete, if any State agency or body has been shown to have failed the child, there would be “consequences”.
He also disclosed he had ordered Tusla to make an early disclosure of the case to the oversight panel.
“I’ve asked Tusla to send this case to the National Review Panel. That’s the panel that looks at the death of any child who links to the caring structure of the state that usually takes place at the end of an investigation.
“I’ve already asked Tusla already to send that across so we can we can understand [Tusla’s] involvement in this particular case. I’ve no doubt other parts of the State will also be examining closely what happened here, while at the same time recognising there’s an ongoing investigation into this tragedy.”
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