Video: What is happening to at-risk children under Ireland’s child protection agency?
Ireland’s Child and Family Agency, also known as Tusla, has been under scrutiny for decades over its inability to save and protect at-risk children facing neglect, exploitation and sexual abuse.
According to several credible news reports, some of the abuses and negligence happened under the agency’s watch, and other children became victims of the agency’s slow system that denied them safety under the care of their abusers. Others have gone missing.
Professor Mehari Fisseha, a human rights advocate and international law and diplomacy scholar based in Ireland, joined Ismail Akwei on the Global South Conversation to discuss how entrenched the neglect and abuse of children is in Ireland under the watch of Tusla.
“...even my own family member was taken from the family members, and then this child was given a wrong medication and then he was sexually molested, physically beaten up. I mean, a lot of things happened to these kids. I mean, there are lots of children in the country that are actually sexually molested,” he said.
“Between 2019 until 2024, 1265 children have been missing. So where are these children? The Minister for Children said we cannot find these children; some of them died, and some of them are nowhere to be found. Is this not crime against humanity?” he questioned.
Recently, another investigation has been opened to find a child who is presumed dead after he was reported missing in North County Dublin, prompting a press conference on September 3, 2025, by Minister for Children Norma Foley, who has asked Tusla to conduct well-being checks on cases closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to RTE, Ireland’s National Television and Radio Broadcaster, the Minister described the case as "hugely disturbing". This latest case comes just one year after schoolboy Kyran Durnin was first reported missing from his Drogheda home, also presumed dead.
Professor Mehari Fisseha has called for unity among families who have experienced injustice to speak up against the actions and inactions of Tusla as he does.
“They have to come together, and these are their children. They have to come together and fight for justice…I am an academician. I'm a human rights law expert and a professor. I will never keep quiet because if I do that, that is unethical…I will fight for social justice, I will fight for human rights, I will fight for African children and African people. In general, I will fight for humanity, whether it's a white, green, yellow, or red child. I will fight for justice, he said.
Our attempt to reach Tusla at the time of this publication was unsuccessful.
Watch the interview attached to this story.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
