Almost 300 asylum seekers who claimed they were children were subsequently deemed to be adults over the past four years, the child and family agency has said.
The average time these adults were incorrectly presumed to be children, and were possibly living in children’s accommodation, was 57 days, Tusla said in a report to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee. It said, however, this timescale has reduced considerably since January.
In the briefing document, the agency said “the issue of age assessment in relation to unaccompanied minors has been an issue of significant risk to Tusla in recent years”.
“There is no provision in law for Tusla to conduct age assessments,” it said in the document, dated April 27th.
Between 2022 and 2025, a total of 2,530 young people who were alone and seeking asylum were referred to the agency in cases where either immigration officials believed they were under 18 and unaccompanied, or the individuals claimed to be.
Of these, 293 were subsequently “deemed ineligible” for Tusla’s services “and referred back to the International Protection Office (IPO)”.
The 2015 International Protection Act says that where an immigration official forms a view an asylum seeker is under 18 years, they shall refer them to Tusla. That young person shall be presumed to be a child and shall access Tusla’s protective services, the legislation says.
Tusla said it had been taking close to two months from the time it received a referral of an individual appearing or claiming to be an unaccompanied minor, and completing an assessment determining them not to be eligible for services, “and therefore an adult”.
However, since January this year the IPO, which is run by the Department of Justice, had been conducting more robust age screenings, it said.
As a result, such referrals to Tusla had dropped and fewer eligibility assessments were required – leading to a shorter timescale of approximately 15 days for completed age determinations.
“In quarter one 2026, we have experienced a reduction in the number of young people referred to the service, with 97 referrals.” This compared with 196 referrals in the last three months of 2025.
“This reduction is simultaneous to the introduction of a new process by the Department of Justice in relation to age screening at the point of entry in preparation for the implementation of the EU Migration Pact in June 2026.”
Tusla said where there was a query about the young person’s age, or an appeal of the decision of the IPO or Tusla, they were categorised as “age disputed” and accommodated in an emergency placement or an adult Ipas placement, and not in a registered children’s centre “pending a final determination”.
Figures provided by Tusla to the committee – based in some instances on a manual sampling of cases, as data is not collected electronically – showed it received 768 referrals from an immigration or IPO official last year.
Of these, 288 underwent eligibility assessments of which 141 were deemed “ineligible” for Tusla services – ie, were over the age of 18.
The report suggests there were three judicial reviews taken last year in relation to such eligibility decisions.
“It is … particularly challenging to rebut the claim of being a minor particularly when adhering to best practice guidance of fair procedures, benefit of the doubt and the legal premise of presumption of minority,” said Tusla.
In some cases, unaccompanied minors were placed in unregistered, unregulated placements known as special emergency arrangements (SEAs). These have been harshly criticised by the Ombudsman for Children and the judiciary as unsuitable for vulnerable children.
Their use was “driven primarily by the number of arrivals”, said Tusla. Many were in SEAs “for a very short period of time … before moving on to a registered centre”, it said.