Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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533. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide an update on the work engaged in by his Department with the Department of Justice to review the findings and recommendations of the UCD SERP scoping report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41001/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department and Tusla continue to take the issue of potential Child Sexual Abuse very seriously and are committed to promoting safe and high quality practice in all areas of Care, including working with An Garda Síochána (AGS) as required. My Department and Tusla continue to undertake actions in this regard.

On the 22nd of June 2023, the UCD Sexual Exploitation Research Programme (SERP) published a report, “Protecting Against Predators: A Scoping Study on the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Young People in Ireland.’ The report sought to establish the level of awareness of child sexual abuse amongst key stakeholders from across a variety of sectors. The report raised concerning issues in relation to the potential exploitation of children, including those in care.

I sought a meeting with the authors of the report shortly after its publication.

Prior to the publication of the report, my Department established a Working Group looking at institutional and organisational abuse. This Group is considering the UCD SERP report and making recommendations as required, after which I will consider any further steps as may be necessary. It was subsequently decided that external research was required to provide the Working Group with definitional clarification of abuse categories. This contract was awarded to an external research provider in January 2024 and the Researcher is due to report back to this Group. This research is reviewing the international literature and best practice around same. This research is also looking at the findings, learnings, and recommendations of seminal reports on abuse of children in residential care settings, including in other jurisdictions.

Tusla has a statutory obligation to notify An Garda Síochana of all incidences of suspected child sexual exploitation, including those relating to children in the care of the State. An Garda Síochana lead the investigation into these notifications. Consequently, Tusla liaises closely with Gardaí, and has an assigned Principal Social worker based with Garda National Protective Services. In 2021 Tusla implemented its Child Exploitation Procedure, Operation Cosnaím, in partnership with An Garda Síochána, which provides Tusla staff and carers with information on how to recognise indicators of child sexual exploitation, how to make appropriate referrals and how to respond to cases where children may be at risk of sexual exploitation.

Operation Cosnaím is currently being reviewed and updated.