Sharon Keogan (Independent)

I rise with a heavy heart to address two tragedies that have taken place in our nation over the past week. A young man fled war in Ukraine and, within four days, was murdered with unspeakable brutality in Ireland. A girl ran away from a Tusla centre and is, allegedly, raped. What do these two tragedies have in common? They were entirely preventable. They highlight two areas in which our nation has failed totally, utterly and objectively: migration and child safety. What is utterly condemning is that this Government has now received years of warning in both of these areas. For years, I have been trying to raise the issue of children who go missing from Tusla and, for years, communities have raised their fears about the presence of IPA centres in communities such as Citywest, where the rape took place.The response has been silence and denial. Let us look at Tusla's own statement. First off, it declines to mention how long the victim was missing from care. Second, it points out that the poor girl in question had significant behavioural issues, as if that would be any excuse for what has happened to her. How dare they.

We seem to have no idea how many children are missing from Tusla care nor how long they have been missing. Likewise, we seem to have no idea who we are letting into this country and how long they are staying and where. When a real refugee from a warzone comes to our country, we put them in a room to be stabbed 100 times, and if they try to run away to the streets, they are raped.

We now live in a nation where children are not safe under Tusla care and they are not safe outside of it either. Any government with any sense of decency would resign en masse of such outrages but I will not hold my breath in this Chamber for that to happen.