Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I essentially want to focus on Nos. 2 and 3, which relate to persons under the age of 18. I tabled some parliamentary questions on this but I think it would be useful for the public accounts committee to write to both the Department of Justice and Tusla on the number of referrals to Tusla of persons under the age of 18. There is a narrative that putting information into the public arena is important. There is a narrative around the age of some of the people referred to Tusla and a question mark about whether they are under or over 18. In the context of a large number of children going missing, it is important to nail that down. I think we need to write to both the Department of Justice and Tusla to do that. We should ask the Department of Justice the number of people presumed to be under the age of 18 referred to Tusla in the years, say, 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024 as well as the number that do not transpire to be under the age of 18. We should ask Tusla the same thing but also the number it is aware of who have gone missing.