Children in Dublin who were at risk of physical or sexual abuse experienced “significant” delays in receiving a child protection and welfare service, according to the health watchdog.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) on Monday published an inspection report on protection and welfare services operated by Tusla, the child and family agency, in the Dublin South Central area.
One child was on a waiting list for assistance for more than two years, Hiqa said. In a number of cases, the authority found gardaí should have been informed of certain allegations but were not.
The inspection was carried out from April 8th to 11th, 2025. It found that “in most cases” at-risk children experienced long delays before intervention.
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“This was as a result of children not being allocated in a timely manner and being placed on a waiting list after they had been deemed to meet the criteria for a service,” the report noted.
“It was clear that the welfare and protection needs of some of the children referred to the Dublin South Central service area were not always met in a timely and effective manner.”
One child who had been the subject of three referrals, two of which were for physical abuse, was placed on a waiting list. One of these referrals dated back 26 months before the inspection.
“The third came in as a child welfare referral and was received two months before the inspection. This had not been screened to establish the risk of harm to the child and ensure that it was correctly categorised,” the report said.
In relation to another child, a sexual abuse referral was received 14 months before the inspection, with another concern referred one month later.
“The child was placed on a wait-list and prioritised as medium, with no consideration given to revising the priority following the receipt of the second referral,” the report stated.
“The child had not been met with despite audits carried out by a manager that indicated that this should be done. The child had still not received any therapeutic support at the time of the inspection.”
In a separate case, Tusla received an allegation of physical abuse in respect of a child with complex needs which “was inappropriately categorised as a child welfare concern, and prioritised as medium”.
“Gardaí were not notified of this allegation of abuse. This was brought to the attention of the area manager and response provided showed that gardaí had been notified after the inspection,” the report stated.
Hiqa said these cases “illustrated gaps in the service capacity to carry out assessments of children’s welfare and protection needs in a timely manner”.
“This had resulted in children waiting for significantly long periods in many cases for the required support and interventions,” it said.
“Inspectors escalated 13 cases and the response provided indicated that all cases had actions completed to ensure children’s safety and that risks identified were being effectively managed.”
Responding to the report, Tusla said the Dublin South Central area received 7,781 child protection and welfare referrals in the 12 months before the inspection.
Despite improvements in recruitment and retention of staff since the previous inspection in February 2024, the service “remained challenged by the scale of demand, and its current capacity”, a statement noted.
“The area has developed an action plan to bring it into compliance, which has been accepted by Hiqa.”
Gerry Hone, interim director of services and integration at Tusla, said the Dublin South Central area has been “challenged to provide a timely service to all children and families”.
“There has been a considerable effort undertaken in the area in the recruitment and retention of staff, and we are beginning to see the dividends of this across the service.”
There has been a 7 per cent decrease in the number of children awaiting allocation since the inspection in April, Mr Hone added.
