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.<\/p>\n
The average time these adults were incorrectly presumed to be children, and were possibly living in children\u2019s accommodation, was 57 days, Tusla<\/a> said in a report to the D\u00e1il Public Accounts Committee<\/a>. It said, however, this timescale has reduced considerably since January. <\/p>\n In the briefing document, the agency said \u201cthe issue of age assessment in relation to unaccompanied minors has been an issue of significant risk to Tusla in recent years\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no provision in law for Tusla to conduct age assessments,\u201d it said in the document, dated April 27th. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Of these, 293 were subsequently \u201cdeemed ineligible\u201d for Tusla\u2019s services \u201cand referred back to the International Protection Office<\/a> (IPO)\u201d. <\/p>\n 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\u2019s protective services, the legislation says. <\/p>\n 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, \u201cand therefore an adult\u201d.<\/p>\n However, since January this year the IPO, which is run by the Department of Justice<\/a>, had been conducting more robust age screenings, it said.<\/p>\n