James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)

Chair, you will recall that when representatives of the Department of justice were before us I raised the issue of who is legally responsible in respect of carrying out age verification for unaccompanied minors in IPAS settings. None of the officials who were present on that day could clarify as a matter of law who is responsible for that. It was made very clear to every member of the committee that it was Tusla's responsibility. We submitted this question in writing by way of follow-up. I should note that we were told on the day the officials from the Department of justice were here that they would respond to us on that day. It has taken a number of weeks, and in the reply they have given, which is in this letter, it is crystal clear that the statutory responsibility for carrying out age verification is an obligation vested in the International Protection Office that, as a matter of practice, it has transferred over to Tusla, it seems, for a number of years.

Perhaps this was something that was manageable in a different era but at this time over 500 unaccompanied minors have entered Ireland this year who are in the care of Tusla. That is an increase of about 13.5% while the overall numbers are going down. When Tusla was before the committee, it made clear its real and serious concern. The reply given to us by the Department of justice says that this issue will be dealt with in future legislation and that the new entity that will be established in relation to the migrant pact will have the responsibility. In the meantime the issue remains. It is a very serious and live issue. I want to note that. I also want to suggest we write back to the Department of justice. It would not provide us with the number of children for whom Tusla disputed their age and had referred back to the IPO so I think we should write back to the Department to clarify the number of children, or persons, over the past three or four years in the care of Tusla where Tusla has contacted the Department expressing concerns about age and age verification and the number of those age verifications that have been carried out. At this stage, maybe it is not really a matter for the public accounts committee but there are serious issues here that require intervention at ministerial level on the important issue that we uncovered here at the committee. I suggest we write to the Department of justice and follow up on that basis.