Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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123. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of incidents of abuse, intimidation or neglect of children in institutional care brought to the attention of his Department in each of the past two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21035/15]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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127. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of young children/adults placed into care in each of the past three years and to date in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21039/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 123 and 127 together.

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. Under the Child Care Act 1991, as amended, only children may be received into care and this can be up to the age of 18 years.

Children who are received into care, depending on their identified need, may be placed in foster care either with relatives or general foster carers, residential care, special care or other placement types. The majority of these children are in stable placements, with over 92% of children in care currently in foster family setting. Residential settings represent most of the remaining placements, usually between 5 and 8% of all children in care. A residential setting will typically have 3 to 4 children in residence, who are usually older teenagers, allowing for their individual needs to be met. Regulations under the Child Care Act 1991, as amended, underpin a number of safeguards for children in care, including the frequency of reviews of care plans and of visits by social workers to the child's care setting. In addition there are standards in place for foster and residential placements and there is a regime of regular monitoring and inspections.

Data, made available by Tusla, on children in care are on the basis of the type of care placement that is involved. Tusla does not provide data on the residence of the child at the time of the referral. However, feedback from practice information and from the independent inspection regime of the Health Information and Quality Authority shows that the most likely source of risks that lead to a child protection response is located in the wider community.

Tusla's data shows that in 2013, it received a total of 41,599 referrals, of which 19,407 related to abuse referrals. Figures to date for 2014 indicate that there had been 14,112 abuse referrals out of a total of 32,687 referrals up to the end of quarter three. It should be noted that more than one referral can be received in relation to a child so referrals data does not equate to the number of children that come to the attention of Tusla.

Data published in recent years indicate that the numbers of children entering care has been decreasing. This indicates that the increase in the number of children in care seen between 2012 and 2013 is a result of fewer children leaving care during the period. Tusla has reported that the number of children in care at year end, and most recently up to the end of February 2015, are as follows: