A Cork TD has said that despite Tusla saying it wants to reduce its reliance on private residential care for children in State care, its own figures show the exact opposite.
The Child and Family Agency has confirmed that the number of children placed in privately funded residential care rose from 834 in 2024 to 1,038 in 2025.
“That is an increase of 204 children, or almost 25 per cent, in just one year,” Ken O’Flynn TD said.
“I asked Tusla to reconcile that increase with its stated policy of reducing dependency on private residential care. It could not,” he added.
“Instead, in its reply, Tusla confirmed that it “will continue to source placements via the private sector”. The reason is stark. Tusla says demand for residential places is “far exceeding existing capacity” and that it cannot develop State-run capacity quickly enough to meet that demand,” Deputy O’Flynn said.
He said that the figures from Tusla showed how limited that existing capacity is.
Tusla added: 13 residential beds in 2023 and 6 beds in 2024 and 38 beds in 2025, the Independent Ireland deputy said.
“Against that, the number of children in privately funded residential placements increased by more than 200 in a single year,” he added.
“So there is now a very clear contradiction between the policy and the reality.Tusla says it wants to reduce reliance on private residential care. But its own figures show that reliance increased by almost a quarter in one year, and the agency has confirmed that it will continue sourcing private placements because existing capacity cannot meet demand,” he said.
“These are children in the care of the State, many of them with complex needs, who cannot live at home. Where those children are placed matters enormously.”
He said that the policy of reducing private provision “means very little if the State cannot build the capacity required to deliver it.”
“Every year that the State fails to provide sufficient capacity, the gap has to be filled by private providers.”
He called on the Minister to “be honest about where this policy is actually going” and said “a clear annual target for private residential placements through to 2030” should be published.