The search for a missing boy, who is presumed dead, on land in north county Dublin is ongoing. The boy, who would now be seven years old, has not been seen alive since he was three.
The news that this boy who has not been named was missing, presumed dead came a year after the case of Kyan Durnin. I am not the first to ask just how two children can vanish off the face of the earth in Ireland and no alarm is raised for years.
Much has been written about the inadequacies of the response so far and I don’t intend to go over those arguments. The National Review Panel which carries out reviews into failures of Tulsa should be put on statutory footing, there should be at least what would be called a serious case review in the UK or even a public inquiry. These are legal questions.
But there are bigger questions for us as a society, as neighbours and friends, as to how no one seemed to notice these two children went missing or noticed enough to raise the alarm.
The following are the departments or people who, to my knowledge, are entrusted with looking after the interests of children in Ireland. The Department of Education and Youth; the Department of Children, Disability and Equality (which on the right on side has a link ‘Concerns about a Child’); Tusla; the Ombudsman for Children; the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection; the child’s school or childcare setting; and the gardaí.
Something called the National Review Panel conducts reviews after something goes wrong in Tulsa. Tulsa also conducts its own rapid reviews into their own failings, but a body investigating itself is pretty useless. And despite all of the above these two children are still missing presumed dead and we have no idea what happened to them.
Kyran Durnin who lived in Drogheda was reported missing In August 2024. The last confirmed sighting of him was in June 2022 when he was six. It seems no one reported him missing or raised concerns with authorities about his whereabouts for more than two years.
We do not even know the name of the child being searched for in Donabate. The last sighting of the child was, according to gardai, in 2020 when he was two. Again, since then no one reported him missing or raised concerns about his whereabouts. He would be seven now.
Tulsa was involved in the care of the Donabate boy. His parents had given him up for adoption when he was under one due to unsuitable housing but the mother had a change of heart and the child was returned to the parents around 18 months after being placed in state care with Tulsa. For some reason Tulsa had no further involvement with the family.
To return a child after 18 months seems unusual to me unless very close contact was maintained with his parents as the first two years of life is when foundational attachments are made between a baby and their caregiver. To separate and break such an attachment will have a profoundly detrimental impact on the child. But Tulsa is determined on family unification and they didn’t even bother to continue contact with the boy and his family. Now we don’t even know where this child is but he is presumed dead.
Differing accounts of how the boy died have been reported to the Sunday Independent but it is all speculation. What we do know is that two young children vanished and no one said a thing. Kyran Durnin for two years and the Donabate boy for a full 5 years. How can this be?
Inadequacies in the child protection system seem obvious given the facts, but what about the inadequacies in society? What about us, neighbours, friends and citizens? I could be wrong but for as much as we are told how terrible Evil Old Catholic Ireland was I don’t think two children could go missing for years and no one said a thing.
We are constantly told these days, to mind our own business. Maybe we shouldn’t mind our own business. I’d like to think that if I knew of a two – year old on my street and I didn’t hear or see him or his parents with him for a few weeks I’d say something, anything. I wouldn’t just continue on my merry way, checking Twitter and watching Netflix.
In the UK a child Branson Battersby starved to death over Christmas 2024 when his father died. Social workers came to the house but did not gain access and no one in his family took responsibility to look in on the two-year-old and a clearly vulnerable father. When the social worker and landlady entered the property in Skegness on January 9 there were two bodies, a father and son. The father, Kenneth Battersby, 60, had died of a heart attack and the son, two-year-old Bronson, had slowly starved to death over the Christmas holidays. The child was curled up and clinging to his father’s leg.
If being modern and progressive and minding your own business means not even noticing or if noticing staying silent when the two – year old down the road goes missing then you can count me out. The welfare of the children in your immediate area is your business. The welfare of the parents who may be struggling are also worthy of even your mild concern.
We still have no idea what has happened to either the little boy in Donabate or Kyan Durnin. That should prompt a lot of soul searching and reflection.