Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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38. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of allegations of abuse of children under the care of the Health Service Executive or other State institutions or State funded care which are currently under investigation by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, broken down between historical cases and present cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20398/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Children First guidelines set out the roles and responsibilities for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, as well as for State institutions and other publicly funded services, in relation to allegations of abuse. Tusla has clear operational guidance for its staff on the assessment of allegations of abuse, whether current or historical. An Garda Siochana carries out criminal investigations into allegations of abuse.

When Tusla receives an allegation of abuse, their first duty is to the safety of the child concerned and to gather sufficient information in order to come to a professional opinion regarding risk to that child and any other child posed by the person against whom the allegation has been made. When Tusla receives information from an adult about abuse he/she suffered as a child, Tusla have the same responsibility to assess the current risk that may be posed to children by the adult against whom the historical allegation has been made. Tusla has a duty of care to apply fair procedures and natural justice to any adult where they are undertaking an assessment of the risk that adult may pose, but where they conclude that the allegation is founded, they will share that information with relevant third parties to ensure that children are protected.

Tusla publishes data on all abuse referrals, by type (neglect, physical, emotional and sexual abuse) and on referrals concerning welfare issues. Tusla's data shows many referrals proceed to initial assessment, and how many are confirmed as requiring a child protection plan. The data, as nationally collected, is not broken down into investigations of historical and present abuse. Consequently, Tusla has informed me that it does not have data in the form requested by the Deputy. Tusla has informed my Department that, as part of the standardisation of data collection, it intends to disaggregate the total number of referrals and assessments to allow reporting on historical allegations separately.