{"id":41138,"date":"2025-09-03T15:50:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T15:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/41138\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T15:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T15:50:10","slug":"tusla-to-check-on-children-known-to-agency-during-covid-as-search-for-boy-missing-presumed-dead-continues-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/41138\/","title":{"rendered":"Tusla to check on children known to agency during Covid as search for boy missing, presumed dead, continues \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tusla<\/a> is to check on the welfare of all children who were in its care or who were known to it during the Covid period and whose cases are now closed, Minister for Children Norma Foley<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n

The Minister made her remarks as garda\u00ed investigate the case of a boy who has been missing<\/a> from north Dublin for several years and is feared dead.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed<\/a> said they are investigating the disappearance and whereabouts of the boy, who would be seven years old if still alive, and last lived in an apartment in Donabate.<\/p>\n

Concerns for the boy were raised by Tusla<\/a>, the child and family agency, and reported to garda\u00ed on Friday.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed began searching open ground in Donabate this week.<\/p>\n

Ms Foley described the case as \u201chugely disturbing\u201d. <\/p>\n

Tusla said on Tuesday in a statement it had been engaging with the boy and his family<\/a> at the family\u2019s request, and this ceased five years ago. The boy, if alive, would now be aged seven.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 2020, no new referral or new information of concern was received about this child until August 2025,\u201d said Tusla in a statement on Tuesday night. \u201cOn foot of this we contacted an An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na with our concerns for the safety and wellbeing of the child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking at an event in Dublin on Wednesday, Minister Foley said she had asked Tusla to \u201cundertake a well-being check on all cases, in particular cases of children [known to the agency] during Covid, particularly beginning with cases that were closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt behoves us all … I am very conscious of the Covid period,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> has warned people against \u201crushing to conclusions\u201d in the case.<\/p>\n

\"GardaíGarda\u00ed at an area of open ground in Donabate, where the search for the remains of a child continues. Photograph: Colin Keegan\/Collins Dublin <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Mr Martin said Ireland had a \u201cstrong and robust\u201d child protection system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very, very distressing in terms of what has happened here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Garda investigation is under way, I would caution against people rushing to conclusions and apportioning blame far too early.<\/p>\n

\u201cTusla has issued a statement in respect of its engagement with the child and with the family. What is important now is that the garda\u00ed can bring this investigation to a conclusion as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very, very distressing when a child goes missing in this manner, without anyone being aware in authority and also in the context of a child losing their life. It is the second such case now and that is concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questions have been raised about Tusla after a similar case came to light last year.<\/p>\n

Kyran Durnin<\/a> from Co Louth, who would be nine this year if still alive, was reported missing in August last year and a murder investigation was launched in October.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Kyran Durnin investigation: New appeal issued for information on missing schoolboyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, who took up the role this week, said investigators have been unable to identify any information on the boy\u2019s whereabouts or evidence as to whether he is alive.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin added: \u201cCases do get closed and for good reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are broader societal issues at stake as well, let\u2019s be clear about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we will examine this case in terms of what has transpired, and we have to examine it and then apply any issues that arise from that to future protection frameworks, whilst always respecting family situations as well as the situation for children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are complex situations. They\u2019re not simple. I think sometimes there tends to be a very premature reaction [of] \u2018let\u2019s blame Tusla for everything\u2019, and I\u2019m not clear that that\u2019s the correct pathway initially, until we know the full facts surrounding this case.\u201d \u2013 Additional reporting PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tusla is to check on the welfare of all children who were in its care or who were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[956,9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,29801,24600,11,12,15,16,5765,5,7,8,8504],"class_list":{"0":"post-41138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-justin-kelly","18":"tag-kyran-durnin","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-micheal-martin","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories","27":"tag-tusla"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}