Detailed figures compiled from regional health authorities show for the first time the extent and nature of child abuse detected by social workers each year.
A breakdown of figures, completed recently by the Department of Health, shows the number of children admitted to care has risen over the last 15 years.
Latest figures for 2003 show 4,984 children were in care on December 31st, 2003. Most of the children are admitted into care due to family-centred problems such as neglect (24 per cent), followed by parents being unable to cope (22 per cent); unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers (18 per cent); parents addicted to drugs or alcohol (9 per cent); physical abuse (6 per cent); sexual abuse (4 per cent); and emotional abuse (3 per cent).
The proportion of children in care has doubled over the last 15 years, from 2,700 in 1989 (25 per 100,000) to 5,517 (51 per 100,000).
The figures raise issues such as the adequacy of support services for families, investment in this area and disturbing regional variations in the proportion of children taken into care.
The difference in regional figures show that a child is up to three times more likely to be admitted to care, depending on where they live.
For example, in 2003 the proportion of children admitted into care was lowest in the northeast (10 per 10,000), while it was almost three times higher in the midlands (28 per 10,000).
The Department of Health had not responded to media queries on the figures last night, but children's charity Barnardos said the numbers showed that greater investment in family support structures was needed.
"We have a constitutional commitment to the family in Ireland, but the survey highlights that increased pressures on unsupported families can lead to the admission of children to the care system," said Norah Gibbons, Barnardos' director of advocacy. "This is particularly pertinent for those families who have fallen outside traditional support mechanisms through poverty, educational disadvantage or social exclusion."
While there has been an increase in focus and investment on family support services, social workers say the response to children at risk is still mainly crisis-driven rather than planned.
Declan Coogan, a senior social worker and member of the Irish Association of Social Workers executive council, said admitting a child into care should be the last resort for health authorities. But underfunded services meant this did not always happen.
"There has been a failure to provide adequate funding or resources for services that are known to work," he said.
"The issue of neglect can easily be tackled when you have adequate community supports, such as family support, youth advocacy programmes, access to therapeutic services.
"But there are waiting lists of up to a year for some therapeutic services. If there was earlier intervention, much more could be done."
Children in care also tended to spend long periods of time away from their families. Some 44 per cent spent up to five years in care; 33 per cent spent more than five years; and 23 per cent spent up to a year.
The rise in the number of children taken into care can be partly explained by the arrival of unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers, who accounted for 18 per cent of admissions last year.
But that is just part of the picture. The reason why the overall proportion of children in care has doubled over the last 15 years, could be related to a rising number of single parent families, drug abuse and pressure on family units. Some social workers say the figures may also be a testament to greater awareness of children's rights, since the introduction of the Children's Act (1991).
"Ultimately there should be more emphasis on the rights of children," said Jennifer Gargan of the Irish Association of Young People in Care.
"Under the Constitution, there is a view that children do not have rights independent of their parents. But they do have have rights, in particularly to care and protection."