Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)

Last week a 17-year-old Ukrainian boy was stabbed to death in an apartment run by a private contractor on behalf of Tusla. This apartment housed four teenage boys. Two of these boys, alongside a female care worker, desperately tried to intervene in this horrific attack. I cannot begin to imagine the grief felt by his family. Their child lost his life when he was supposed to be safe in the care of our State.

Yesterday the news broke of a young girl only ten years old who was allegedly raped by a man who had no legal right to remain in this State, a man who had been here for six years as an asylum seeker before being served with a deportation order earlier this year. This child was also in the care of Tusla. In a statement put out yesterday evening, Tusla described how the girl absconded from its care while on a trip in the city centre. To see language such as "absconded" used in regard to a ten-year-old girl is shocking as though she were somehow responsible for the abuse inflicted on her. It is 101 victim blaming. The girl was entrusted to the care of the State and was failed both by Tusla and by the Government's disastrous migration policy. My heart aches for her and her family.

Since 2021, 121 children under the care of Tusla have been referred to the Garda because of child sexual abuse. This is a systemic issue, yet nothing is being done. The issue has been raised tirelessly by Aontú and Deputy Peadar Tóibín. The Government continues to outsource the care of vulnerable children to private for-profit companies, many of which are not regulated. The State is continually failing children. What will it take for the Government to realise we are at breaking point? There needs to be a serious investigation into Tusla as well as reform of the State agency. Vulnerable children deserve the highest standards of care and safety and not to be placed in unregulated for-profit accommodation.