Tusla cannot supply annual missing‑children figures for state care

Deputy Peadar Tóibín of Aontú raised concerns after Tusla confirmed it cannot provide comprehensive historical data on children who have gone missing from state care. He requested annual numbers for the past ten years, the length of missing periods, and counts of adults still unaccounted for. Tusla replied that before August 2023 the information was not centrally aggregated and was held only in individual case files, so it could only offer point‑in‑time snapshots rather than yearly totals.

Freedom‑of‑information documents released by the agency show 6,972 “missing in care” incidents recorded between January 2020 and September 2025 in Tusla‑run residential facilities. The records also reveal that a single child was reported missing 274 times within a twelve‑month period, illustrating repeated disappearances. Tusla defines a missing‑in‑care case as a child’s location unknown for at least 15 minutes with safety concerns, although most are located within 24 hours.