Tusla continues to see a “rapid increase” in the number of children arriving unaccompanied in Ireland to seek international protection, with the agency saying it accommodated 570 such children last year.
The child and family agency said the rise is due to “ongoing conflicts around the world”. This has forced it to “rapidly increase” its team tasked with helping these minors.
In a section of its newly published annual report noting risks, the agency said there is a “risk that Tusla will not be able to provide services in line with standards and regulations . . . due to the significant increase in the number of arrivals and the lack of sufficient resources to meet demand”.
Such a scenario “could result in a large number of children being placed in Special Emergency Arrangements”, which are unregulated, private placements.
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The 570 children Tusla took into care or accommodated last year represents a 32 per cent increase from 2023, the State agency said. A third are Ukrainian, while the remainder arrived seeking international protection from countries such as Somalia, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Palestine, Syria, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, Tusla said in its report.
The agency found placements for 432 newly arrived minors in 2023 and 350 in 2022 – the year Russia invaded Ukraine – which was triple the 2021 figure.
“The demand for Tusla services was significantly increased because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, resulting in the immediate need to accommodate Ukrainian children arriving as unaccompanied minors,” the agency reported at the time.
Taking into account children remaining in Tusla’s care last year having arrived in Ireland in previous years, the agency said it accommodated 893 unaccompanied minors during 2024. The majority were male and aged 16 or 17, Tusla said.
The agency said it has opened 20 new residential centres with 128 beds for the rising number of children.
“This has meant that when vulnerable children arrive in Ireland on their own, we have more placements available so that their needs are met via a care plan or placement plan,” it said.
Tusla was inspected by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) 39 times last year, achieving a 78 per cent compliant/substantially compliant rating. This is a slight drop from the 82 per cent achieved in 2023.
Tusla said this is “in spite of the unprecedented demands on services”.
Excluding separated minors seeking protection, the number of children in Tusla’s care has dropped by 13 per cent in the decade leading to 2024. In 2014, there were 6,454 other children in the agency’s care, while there were 5,600 in its care at the start of last year.
