Ms Sandra McDonagh:

Without giving any identifying information, throughout my career living in Offaly and before we really developed and progressed our relationship with Tusla, I would have been involved in some very serious cases where children would have been taken into care but, thankfully, were not. That was through my engagement with Tusla, my intervention, the family support and, in certain circumstances, challenging Tusla on why. Some of it was basically down to bias or a lack of cultural awareness. Those families where the children did not end up going into care survived through it and have become healthy adults. There was no reason they should have gone into care.