{"id":625200,"date":"2026-08-07T10:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/625200\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T10:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:47:09","slug":"special-care-services-for-emotionally-disturbed-children-approaching-crisis-point-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/625200\/","title":{"rendered":"Special care services for emotionally disturbed children \u2018approaching crisis point\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Staff working in Tusla<\/a>\u2019s special care system are \u201capproaching crisis point\u201d and concerned for the \u201csafety\u201d of the emotionally disturbed children they care for, correspondence shows. <\/p>\n

In a series of letters to Minister for Children Norma Foley<\/a>, workers at the largest special care unit, Crann\u00f3g Nua in north Dublin, ask the Fianna F\u00e1il TD to \u201cintervene\u201d in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe special care services are now approaching a crisis point,\u201d they wrote in a letter dated May 12th. <\/p>\n

\u201cStaff morale is at its lowest level in recent years, with many colleagues reporting significantly increased stress levels, fatigue, and growing concerns regarding both staff and young person safety.\u201d <\/p>\n

Special care is the most secure form of Tusla care, where highly disturbed and dysregulated children, aged 11-17, may be detained by the High Court for therapeutic interventions, where their lifestyles in the community put them or others at high risk.<\/p>\n

Just 14 of the 26 special care beds are operating due to severe challenges recruiting and retaining staff. <\/p>\n

One child, whom the High Court<\/a> ordered several weeks ago be detained in special care, remains without a bed.<\/p>\n

The court has heard staff absenteeism is running at 35 per cent in Crann\u00f3g Nua, and security guards are deployed to ensure staff and child safety. <\/p>\n

Heavily redacted letters sent to Foley by staff at Crann\u00f3g Nua and a smaller unit, Coovagh House in Limerick, dating from late last year, were released under Freedom of Information legislation. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Staffing at State\u2019s largest centre for vulnerable children has \u2018fallen off a cliff\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Irish Times then obtained unredacted copies of the Crann\u00f3g Nua letters detailing workers\u2019 serious concerns about changed work practices, governance, \u201cfeeling unsafe\u201d, \u201cunderstaffing\u201d and \u201cstructural instability\u201d. <\/p>\n

All but one of the six paragraphs in an April 10th letter were redacted in the copy released by the Department of Children. <\/p>\n

Referring to a consultation process under way between staff and Tusla management on new worker grades and practices, staff in the unredacted copy of a letter said their \u201ccontinued engagement in good faith has been tested\u201d by the \u201cremoval\u201d from post, \u201ceffective immediately\u201d, of the then national director of special care, Mark Smith. <\/p>\n

Smith had, they said, \u201cconsistently\u201d articulated staff concerns around the safety and care of the young people. They had been told his \u201cposition was not aligned with the direction of the proposed changes\u201d. Smith was contacted for comment. <\/p>\n

There was \u201cfear among the team for the future of special care for both the young people and [staff]\u201d, they said.<\/p>\n

In a May 12th letter, in which five of the six paragraphs were redacted in the copy released under FoI, staff said they had \u201cgrave and immediate concerns regarding staffing levels and operational safety\u201d at Crann\u00f3g Nua. <\/p>\n

The staffing ratio, which at \u201coptimal\u201d should be eight staff per child over 24 hours, was \u201ccloser\u201d to 3.8 to one and only sustained by staff working overtime. <\/p>\n

\u201cStaff are increasingly concerned that the service is now operating within what many perceive to be an unsafe system of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

They wrote that \u201cdespite substantial organisational change\u201d intended to aid efforts at staff recruitment and retention, \u201cthe service continues to experience critical staffing shortages, increasing reliance on overtime, reduced morale and escalating pressures on frontline staff\u201d. <\/p>\n

Staff remained \u201ccommitted to providing the highest possible care to the young people\u201d, they said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we believe the current position is becoming increasingly unsustainable and now requires immediate intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n

A department spokesman said it remained committed to supporting Tusla in its engagement with staff, in responding to concerns raised, and in addressing the ongoing challenges facing special care.<\/p>\n

A Tusla spokesman said the agency had always been \u201ctransparent about the challenges we face in increasing capacity in special care\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said a new \u201cenhanced grade\u201d \u2013 the new special care worker grade, had attracted \u201cincreased interest\u201d in working in the area. Its creation had \u201crequired adjustments to the supervisory structures\u201d that were \u201cessential to ensure the stability and sustainability of the special care service\u201d.<\/p>\n

The deployment of two security guards at Crann\u00f3g Nua was \u201can added safeguard in response to significant incidents of violence and aggression against staff\u201d and was not \u201cto compensate for staffing shortages\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Staff working in Tusla\u2019s special care system are \u201capproaching crisis point\u201d and concerned for the \u201csafety\u201d of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[74],"tags":[211941,18,10476,19,17,22481,82,8504],"class_list":["post-625200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-department-of-children-disability-and-equality","tag-eire","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-norma-foley","tag-technology","tag-tusla"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625200","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=625200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}