Children in Care

Thursday, 2 July 2026

Ceisteanna (427, 428, 432, 433)

Ken O'Flynn

Ceist:

427. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 1639 of 9 June 2026, whether her Department will direct Tusla to centrally record and analyse the proportion of Emergency Care Order applications that progress to Interim Care Orders, Care Orders or Supervision Orders; and the reasons this information is not currently collated, given its relevance to oversight of emergency child-protection interventions. [50657/26]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Ken O'Flynn

Ceist:

428. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 1640 of 9 June 2026, to confirm whether any key performance indicator, governance metric or audit measure of any kind exists in respect of the use of Emergency Care Orders under Section 13 of the Child Care Act 1991; and if none exists, whether she will direct that such oversight arrangements be put in place. [50659/26]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Ken O'Flynn

Ceist:

432. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 876 of 19 May 2026, whether Tusla will commence collection of data on the number of children under one year of age subject to an emergency care order who are subsequently returned to parental care; and the timeframe for same. [50663/26]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Ken O'Flynn

Ceist:

433. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 499 of 28 May 2026, whether the absence of a national guidance, benchmark or threshold framework governing emergency care order applications under section 13 of the Child Care Act 1991 has been assessed as a risk; and whether her Department intends to develop such a framework. [50664/26]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality

I propose to take Questions Nos. 427, 428, 432 and 433 together.

I would like to thank the Deputy for this question regarding urgent entry into care for children at risk in the community.

Tusla is statutorily independent in the performance of its functions under Section 8(11) of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013. Accordingly, the Department does not issue directions in relation to operational decision-making around applications for Emergency Care Orders under Sections 13 of the Child Care Act 1991.

Tusla is engaged in a digital transformation and data management strategy. This strategy is delivering a joined up digital and data environment that provides modern, secure, integrated systems to support the delivery of all Tusla services and improve data insights and metric development.

Further detailed information in relation to care orders is available through Tusla’s annual Review of Adequacy report, available on the Tusla website: www.tusla.ie/publications/review-of-adequacy-reports/. Tusla also publishes data through its Data Hub, available online at: [www.data.tusla.ie/].

Question No. 428 answered with Question No. 427.

Question No. 429 answered with Question No. 412.

Question No. 430 answered with Question No. 412.

Question No. 431 answered with Question No. 412.

Question No. 432 answered with Question No. 427.

Question No. 433 answered with Question No. 427.