James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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First, I congratulate the Minister of State on her appointment to her new role as Minister of State with responsibility for disability at Cabinet. It is a very important and challenging role.

The issue I am discussing is not unrelated insofar as it concerns the safeguarding of children. Some weeks ago, the CEO of Tusla appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts. We probed her in respect of the issue of unaccompanied minors seeking international protection and how they are cared for within a Tusla setting. At that meeting, the concern that Tusla has on the whole area of age verification was revealed to us. As it happens, that particular meeting predated a number of incidents, which I will not speak about here, including some tragic incidents that have taken place. It is a real worry and concern. Today, we have the figures, given in response to a parliamentary question, that there are over 200 people who Tusla has identified as, in fact, being adults, not children, and who have resided in a centre designed for children with international protection applicants who are unaccompanied minors. This is a real child safeguarding issue.

My concern is that it appears two State agencies - Tusla and the Department of justice - are somewhat at loggerheads and in dispute. Some weeks after the appearance of Tusla before the Committee of Public Accounts, we heard from the Department of justice, which was very firm in its view that the responsibility for carrying out age assessments or age verification rests solely in the hands of Tusla. However, when the Department wrote back to the committee several weeks later, it acknowledged that as a matter of law - the laws that have been passed in the Dáil, Seanad and Houses of the Oireachtas - the legal responsibility for carrying out age verification is, in fact, vested in the Department of justice and the Minister for justice.

It has been the practice for at least a decade that Tusla and its predecessors have, effectively, been given this function as an outsourcing function. When we think about what Tusla's responsibilities are, they are not to carry out legalistic determinations as to whether or not the people who are in its services require its services. Its job is to look after some of the most vulnerable children in this country, no matter what nationality the child may be, no matter in what circumstances the child entered its services.

There is now this additional challenging issue. Perhaps this is why it has not come to the fore previously but it has now. The issue is that the number of unaccompanied minors seeking international protection in Ireland has risen significantly at a time when the overall number of people seeking international protection is on the decline. At a time when we have enough accommodation to accommodate persons seeking international protection in this country, it is on the increase when it comes to unaccompanied minors. In the past year, there has been a 13.5% increase in the number of unaccompanied minors seeking international protection.

The truth is that we have a real challenge. We are looking after up to 600 unaccompanied minors, some of whom will have come from devastated parts of the world, and some of whom, no doubt, will have gone through traumatic journeys, where the risk of trafficking is significant. Now, added to that, we have the admitted concern that there are adults in the centres where there are children. What needs to happen is an intervention whereby we can get clarity as to who is carrying out age verification and how it is going to be properly invested in and resourced.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan. I thank Deputy Geoghegan for raising this important matter and providing the opportunity to give clarity. I hope the Deputy gets that clarity from the comments that the Minister has asked me to make on his behalf.

I am aware that this matter has been discussed by the Committee of Public Accounts and that the Department has responded in writing to a range of queries from the PAC. First, I would like to set out the legislative position regarding age verification. The International Protection Office, IPO, is responsible for determining the age of an applicant, and the Child and Family Agency - Tusla is responsible for determining if an individual is entitled to access its services, including the provision of accommodation. These issues are addressed under the International Protection Act 2015 and the Child Care Act 1991, respectively.

The International Protection Act states that where it appears to an immigration officer or an international protection officer that a person seeking international protection is under 18 and has not been accompanied by an adult, the child should be referred to Tusla. At that point, in accordance with the International Protection Act, it is assumed that the person is a minor and that the Child Care Acts and the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 apply.

The International Protection Act states that Tusla is responsible for making an application for international protection on behalf of the child. It also makes provision for the IPO to arrange an assessment to determine an applicant’s age, but this cannot happen without the consent of the person, or Tusla acting on the person’s behalf. Independent of this process, Tusla carries out an assessment to determine the eligibility of the person, who has been assumed to be a minor, to access its services. In practice, and for many years, it is this latter assessment that is taken as being determinative of age for the purposes of both eligibility for services and for the processing of an international protection application. In cases where Tusla decides that the person is not eligible because they are judged to be an adult, the applicant is referred back to the IPO, which will process their application as such.

While this has been the long-standing practical process around age verification, there is an acknowledgement that it needs to be adapted. The Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, intend to use the forthcoming International Protection Bill to amend the statutory mechanisms for age determination. The measures under the EU Migration and Asylum Pact set out safeguards and procedural guarantees for unaccompanied minors in the international protection process and will be given effect in the International Protection Bill. The Bill will also provide for appropriate alignment with the screening regulation. As required by the pact measures, the Bill will make provision for the appointment of representatives to assist and safeguard the interests of unaccompanied minors.

Additionally, the International Protection Bill 2026 will propose that the determining authority - the replacement for the IPO - will arrange and be responsible for age assessments. It will set out in far greater detail how age is assessed and provide for regulations governing the standards for that process and the qualifications needed for staff. I hope that clarifies the matter.

I thank the Minister of State for this very comprehensive reply given on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan. The challenge, as we await new legislation and what seems to be a new announcement I had not seen before, is that age assessment will be governed by regulations pursuant to this new legislation, the International Protection Bill, but the number of unaccompanied minors does not appear to be on the decline. In fact, it seems to be the opposite. The risks will continue to rise and while I understand every effort has been made to initiate and get this Bill through - perhaps even in the first half of next year - as the Minister of State knows, it will take time to commence relevant provisions and for the determining authority to be established. It will take time to ensure the appropriate staff are resourced and, if there is a more prescriptive measure in terms of how age is to be assessed, to ensure training would accompany such regulations. All of that is welcome but will take a lot of time. It is important the Minister for justice indicates what will happen on an interim basis, pending the introduction of this new regime. It seems Tusla is very concerned about this issue and about its responsibilities in ensuring it is protecting every person who is presumed to be a child when he or she arrives to Tusla as an unaccompanied minor. Then, on the other side of the equation, there is the issue of where Tusla may have identified somebody as not being a child who enters into adult services but it is later proven that person is a child and remitted to child services. This is a very complex area and I think interim approaches are necessary.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy and fully agree it is a very complex area. We need to make sure we are getting this right. There is a long-standing process around age verification of unaccompanied minors seeking international protection in place. That process will continue to be the practice until the new International Protection Bill is enacted and all of the relevant measures behind it come into force.

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, I thank the Deputy for giving us the opportunity to have this discussion on the floor of the House and to put some of that new information on the record of the House. Also, I thank the Deputy's colleagues on the Committee of Public Accounts because I know they also had a number of queries. The Department has responded in writing to a range of queries on this issue following the recent appearance at a committee meeting the Deputy referenced. This has given us the opportunity to clarify and expand in more detail on the plans in this area. To be crystal clear, the Minister intends to use the forthcoming pact legislation as an opportunity to amend the statutory mechanism for age determination. Both the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, are absolutely committed to working closely with the Department of Children, Disability and Equality - my own Department - and Tusla on matters relating to unaccompanied minors in the international protection process. Their aim is to ensure our national legislation and our operational practices will accord with requirements under the pact and will ensure the appropriate care and protection of unaccompanied minors.