Charity says Tusla ill-equipped to protect children from child abuse

A charity has expressed concern that children are continuing to be abused by sex offenders even after the allegations have been brought to Tusla.

A report published by sexual abuse charity One in Four said that the child protection agency was under-resourced to deal with the reports of abuse they receive. They have urged the government to improve their support for Tusla and the resourcing of their child protection teams. The report stated that most of the allegations brought to Tusla by the charity are deemed "unfounded." In 2016, the charity brought 91 notifications to the agency regarding "very serious allegations... about experiences of child sexual abuse." According to the report, 12 individuals made statements concerning the abuse, but eight cases were either not investigated or deemed "unfounded." Tusla is still looking into three cases. Just one case has been "validated" by the agency. Executive director of One in Four, Maeve Lewis, has said that the charity worries that sex offenders will continue to abuse children until they are caught. Speaking on Morning Ireland, she said:

"I would really call on Katherine Zappone, the Minister for Children, to ensure in the Budget that sufficient resources are put in place."

Tulsa chief operations officer Jim Gibson said that the agency "refute the assertion" that they did not investigate eight allegations.

"Where a person makes and allegation and decides not to engage with social work staff regarding the assessment, Tusla staff proceed on the basis of the information available and follow through as appropriate. "We cannot, however, compel people to make a disclosure against their wishes."

Out of the 91 cases, 79 individuals decided not to meet with a social worker. One in Four accepts that it is difficult for Tusla to investigate cases because of this reason.