Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said he will “act immediately” on the findings of a Tusla review into the case of Kyran Durnin, who is missing presumed murdered.
On Saturday, the Department of Children confirmed receipt of Tusla’s internal review of the “concerning case”, and would be engaging with the child and family agency on its findings.
It added that the review will be made available to the National Review Panel (NRP) “immediately”, saying the case is being prioritised by the NRP.
The NRP conducts reviews of child deaths and serious incidents, identifying points of learning with a view to improving the services provided to children and families.
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“There will be a separate report issued to Minister Norma Foley in terms of Tulsa’s education support service which falls within the jurisdiction of the Department of Education and looks at the interaction between Kyran and the school authorities,” Mr O’Gorman said on Friday.
“My department will engage with Tusla in terms of the implementation of any of the immediate recommendations. It is a detailed report and we are very conscious that there is an ongoing Garda investigation, a murder investigation ongoing right now, so we or Tusla won’t be putting anything out that is in any way prejudicial to an ongoing investigation. Importantly, this report will also go to the national review panel, the independent body that examines the death of any child who was known to Tusla. But we will be acting immediately on any central recommendations that this review brings to us.”
Gardaí believe Kyran, who would be aged eight years if still alive, is deceased and that he may have died over two years ago. Though he was initially treated as a missing person gardaí have found no evidence he is still alive, and have since upgrade their inquiries to a murder investigation.
Earlier on Friday, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said he is “being kept up to date every day” in respect of the investigation.
“I can assure you that that investigation is very active. We’re pursuing all the lines of inquiry that we have. We’ve received a huge amount of information from the public so all of that has to be processed and we’re also then engaging with Tusla, and received a lot of information from Tusla as well. So all of that feeds into the inquiry.
“I don’t want to comment on the next operational actions that that we will need to take, but it is a very complex, but properly resourced investigation and being assisted then by national bureaus in terms of expertise around interviewing and the assessment of the witness accounts that we have received so far.”
[ Kyran Durnin case: Has the murder investigation stalled?Opens in new window ]
[ Kyran Durnin was ‘lost in the system’, says Norma FoleyOpens in new window ]
He was also critical of rumours or theories circulating online.
He said it was a “distraction” and “what really we need is to speak to witnesses who have any information at all, no matter how small”.
“Social media, regretfully, is full of inaccuracies and people’s ideas of what might have happened.”
On August 29th Tusla went to the Garda to report its concerns for Kyran’s welfare. A family member on August 30th reported Kyran and his mother, Dayla (24), missing, saying they had disappeared from Co Louth on the morning of August 29th.
Gardaí sought the help of the police in Suffolk in a bid to find Ms Durnin. Once she was located two weeks ago the missing persons inquiry for the mother and child was stood down. At the same time gardaí upgraded their investigation into what had happened to Kyran to a murder investigation.
Since the upgrade gardaí have checked phone and social media records of persons of interest as well as carrying out a search and excavation at the former Durnin family home on Emer Terrace, Dundalk, last week.
Gardaí were looking for any evidence about Kyran’s movements over the last two years during the Dundalk search as the Durnin family had lived at the property until last May. The back garden, along with a nearby patch of ground, was excavated but nothing was found.
How can a child disappear in Ireland without the alarm being raised?
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