Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to be associated with Senator Murphy's remarks about the late Paddy Moloney. He is truly a great loss; he leaves a fantastic legacy.I wish to bring to the House's attention and seek a debate on the care of migrant children who have come to our country as unaccompanied minors and their oversight while they are in care. I pay tribute to Ms Shamim Malekmian of the Dublin Inquirerand Ms Fiona Finn of Nasc, the migrant and refugee rights organisation, for highlighting that there is a difficulty. When an child who was an unaccompanied minor goes missing while in care, there is a child rescue Ireland alert, the case is posted to the global database of missing children and the Tusla social workers who were responsible for the child are then responsible for making follow-up inquiries. However, there is a significant disparity between the numbers on the database and the numbers with Tusla. What is happening to these children? Since 2017, 54 such children have gone missing and only 18 have been accounted for. We do not know whether their cases have been resolved or who is following up on them. We do not know who is speaking up for these children. By the very nature of their status in this country, they do not have family in Ireland, so they do not have people to advocate for them except the Tusla social workers. These children, whom the State has a responsibility for and to, are going unaccounted for. We need to have a debate on their care and oversight. Since it involves the Garda and Tusla, this matter crosses two Departments. There is a question of whether the missing persons unit is fully resourced.