Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has said that a tranche of email correspondence and briefing notes shared between Tusla’s CEO and the Minister for Children, Norma Foley, and released to the party under Freedom of Information requests, have indicated that children are being exposed to trafficking and exploitation.
Aontú says that the documents contain some startling revelations including:
Speaking upon having discovered the documents and correspondence, Peadar Tóibín said: “The high number of children currently missing from State care is extremely alarming. The fact that so many of them are unaccompanied migrant children is particularly worrying.”
“The high numbers of children in State care being sexually exploited or trafficked should be a national scandal and should be debated in the Dáil. It’s clear from the documents released to us under FOI that the most vulnerable children in the State are being left the most exposed to trafficking and exploitation,” he said.
“We know from the documents that the Minister has been briefed on the situation, and I believe she needs to make a statement in the Dáil about this. We can also see that 10 children in State care have been murdered,” he added.
“It’s clear the system is crumbling. We need an urgent debate on the welfare of children in care. The use, by Tusla, of unregulated ‘Special Emergency Arrangements’ for children must end,” the Aontú leader added.
” We’ve seen huge concerns raised about vetting standards among staff in these locations and I’ve heard horror stories from whistleblowers about what occurs in some of these settings. Instead of pumping millions into the unregulated sector, the government need to start supporting and funding the regulated private and voluntary care sectors, and indeed foster families,” he said.