The Department for Children, Equality, Integration and Youth is putting children in unregulated accommodation with unvetted staff, Deputy Peadar Tóibín has told the Dáil, with the Aontú leader pressing Minister Roderic O’Gorman on whether he should resign.

By Maria MAYNES

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Deputy Tóibín says that “government neglect” is placing vulnerable children in “real danger.” The Meath TD said he had asked Minister O’Gorman the number of companies which had been contracted by Tusla to provide special emergency accommodation for children in care, and the amount paid to each company in the past ten years and to date in 2024.

He pointed to one case, reported in October 2023, of a 14-year-old girl who was trafficked to Ireland from West Africa and was abducted by a criminal gang. Extra.ie reported at the time how the gang “were tracking her movements within minutes of her entering State care.”

The harrowing case saw the child found over a year later, “locked in a brothel,” where she had been forced to work as a sex slave. Details of the shocking case came as figures last year revealed that 17 out of 38 minors who went missing from State care after arriving here unaccompanied remained unaccounted for.

It came after it emerged this week that the State agency spent €14 million placing vulnerable children in unregulated emergency accommodation, which later had to be stopped after an internal audit flagged issues.

“The Minister’s Department has admitted to me through replies to parliamentary questions that it is placing children in special emergency accommodation that is unregulated, staffed by third party providers and rented. How much is the Department paying these companies? Mr Tóibín said.

Government neglect is placing vulnerable children in real danger.

Minister Roderic O Gorman’s dept is putting children in unregulated accommodation with unvetted staff.

We have no confidence in him. O’ Gorman has to go. pic.twitter.com/c5NFx192pc

— Peadar Tóibín TD (@Toibin1) February 29, 2024

He said on Thursday it was his understanding that €90 million has been spent by the Department so far on special emergency arrangements.

“Last month alone, 22 children went missing from State care,” Deputy Tóibín said.

“Previously, a 14-year-old girl who had been abducted by a criminal gang within minutes of being placed with Tusla was found one year later locked in a brothel. I try to raise these matters with the Minister, but he does not listen.

“A retired judge, Dermot Simms, tried to raise these matters with the Minister, but the Minister deleted his files, citing GDPR. A whistleblower tried to make a protected disclosure about unvetted care workers,” the TD continued.

“Tusla tried to oppose that, but the commissioner has now ruled that Tusla must accept it. Last week on RTÉ radio, Tusla’s CEO stated that staff in SEAs were absolutely vetted. We now know from an article in The Irish Times yesterday that one company was providing falsified vetting documents to Tusla and that an internal Tusla report in July found that staff did not have up-to-date Garda clearances.

The leader of @AontuIE @Toibin1 drops massive truth bomb on @rodericogorman pointing out that he sat on the same committee as Jossy Akwuobi whose company got almost €9m from @tusla for residential care and is now under Garda investigation for alleged “fabricated” staff… pic.twitter.com/8LGjpbWsKX

— M Compass Media (@MCompassMedia) February 29, 2024

“The name of that company is Ideal Care Services. I understand that there is a Garda investigation into the matter. Has the Minister ever met the owner of that company?” Deputy Tóibín said on Thursday.

He went on to say he had in his hand a document “ showing that the owner of the company being investigated for the alleged falsifying of vetting documents, which received millions of euro from the State for the unregulated care of vulnerable children, was on the same committee as the Minister back when the Minister was a councillor in his constituency.”

“The Minister and Mr. Paul Reid, who went on to become the CEO of the HSE, sat on a joint policing committee with this individual quarter after quarter,” the Aontu leader continued.

“Has the Minister ever spoken to him about the provision of care? Second, why is he underfunding the voluntary and regulated sectors? That is at the heart of this situation. They cannot provide the necessary places because they are underfunded. We are pumping astronomical money into dodgy profit-motivated companies with poorer, unregulated services at a huge economic cost. Will the Minister meet the voluntary and regulated sectors to discuss these concerns?”

Deputy Tóibín went on to press the Minister for Children on whether children in State care should be a “resigning matter,” adding:

“Finally, given the number of times the Minister has been warned about the dangers of these arrangements and that his Department shredded warning reports from a judge; given that whistleblowers were ignored on this issue and are only being taken seriously now that it has appeared on the front page of a newspaper, is this not a resigning matter for him?”

In response, the Minister for Children insisted he had met community and voluntary providers of residential care in January and had discussed issues in detail with them in terms of funding.

“I have set out in detail the additional funding I have been providing to Tusla in order that it can enact its residential care strategy and can put additional beds into the Tusla sector so we can reduce our reliance on special emergency arrangements.

“I will look at whether I served on the Fingal joint policing committee with this individual. It is a committee of about 40 individuals that meets on a quarterly basis. I will examine that. I certainly have never spoken to him on the issue of care,” Minister O’Gorman said.

He went on to insist “I am very happy with it,” adding, “Had the Deputy been here a couple of weeks ago when we had the question about this I would have set out to him directly, the various steps I have taken over the last year around focusing on the safety of children in care.”

“It is a political charge,” he said, while accusing the Aontu leader of creating “a Facebook moment.”

“It is a political charge and the Deputy is very good at that. He is very good at the Facebook moment. No doubt, the video has been clipped already. But ultimately I can set out in real detail the engagements I have had with the Ombudsman for Children, An Garda Síochána and Tusla to ensure the safety of children in care.”

Another case detailed last year featured a child who absconded from a  care home in the Midwest of the country after being groomed by a Dublin-based gang. Extra.ie revealed that the child was found with other children “working” out of a fast-food restaurant toilet.

Responding to the revelations, a department spokesperson told the newspaper: “The international protection office discharges its legal obligations as set out under the International Protection Act 2015 in respect to an unaccompanied child seeking international protection.”

“In accordance with section 14 of this Act, a child deemed to be or claiming to be under the age of 18 arriving at a port of entry or at the IPO, and who is not in the custody of an adult, is referred to the Child and Family Agency (Tusla). Tusla may decide that an application for international protection should be made on behalf of the minor and will support them throughout the process,” it added.

However, once in State care, almost a third of the unaccompanied minors are reported missing, with reports stating that some of the children are abducted from criminal gangs targeting “unsecure” residential accommodation.

Original article: Gript