Tag Archives: TUSLA

A GARDA investigation is underway into a Clare underage football coach, who is suspected of sending ‘graphic images’ to a number of boys he coached. Gardaí have confirmed that they are currently interviewing relevant parties, after a complaint was made to them through a GAA club last week. It is understood that the man at the centre of the allegations is in his mid- 30s and has been involved with the GAA as an underage club coach. He is also believed to have been involved in coaching national school children and has represented his club as a player. It is alleged that images, which were believed to be graphic in nature, were sent directly to a number of individuals under the age of 16 by phone. For more on this breaking story see this week’s edition of The Clare Champion.

The Probation Services is recommending that a 22-year-old east Clare woman not be jailed concerning her neglect of a then five-month-old baby who suffered a catalogue of injuries including a skull fracture while in her care. At Ennis Circuit Court on Wednesday, Judge Gerald Keys said that the Probation Report on the woman recommends that she be placed under the supervision of the Probation Services for a period. Judge Keys said that the Probation Service report states that in order to assess the risk of re-offending, it was necessary for the services to have contact with the woman and that TUSLA staff engage with the Probation Service to ensure the safety and well being of the baby. In the case, the mother – then aged 19 – presented to her GP on February 13, 2015 in a distressed state with the baby as her daughter’s left arm wasn’t moving and she had bruising to her face. Her GP referred the …

A TWO-year care order has been made in respect of a one-year-old girl, who was taken into care after testing positive for opiates at birth. At a sitting of Clare’s Family Law Court, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, made an application before Judge Gráinne O’Neill where they sought a full care order to be made in respect of the girl. Last August the court heard the mother was in residential placement with her baby and that the baby had tested positive for opiates and had to be treated for this. The following month, the mother absconded from the residential placement with the baby. Tusla had learned that the mother had re-united with a partner, not the father of the baby, who was “an active known heroin user” and that the three had left the country. They had gone to Britain where contact was made with Tusla by a social worker from the UK and it was conveyed that the …

CLARE’S Family Law Court has heard details of domestic violence which was perpetrated on a mother-of-three. During one incident, she was knocked unconscious and on another occasion had been strangled while pregnant. The evidence emerged during an application by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, last Friday for a full care order to be made in respect of three children. A social worker told the court that the three children, the eldest being 10, have been known to the services since 2008, when the children were found to be soiled, dirty and barefoot. In 2009, two of the children, then aged one and two, were found unsupervised in a take-away outlet away from their home. The court heard the eldest, a boy, suffers from ADHD and the mother was unable to manage his behaviour. The boy had disclosed that he did not want to go back to his mother, as there was a violent partner in the picture. She detailed …

SOCIAL care workers in a regional residential centre are suffering from repeated physical and sexual assaults by teenagers with behavioural issues, a health union has claimed. It has been further claimed that social care workers in a Limerick centre are going out sick to avoid the prospect of being subjected to even more abuse from children in care, who have escaped major sanction. The Limerick Health and Welfare Branch of Impact tabled a number of motions at the union’s recent conference in Ennis concerning the repeated assaults of social care workers in residential care centres in Limerick run by Tusla, the child and family agency. The branch called for the union to negotiate a policy with Tusla in response to social care workers who are repeatedly assaulted. It requested the union to work with Tusla to ensure that social care workers in residential settings can transfer to community or other settings if they experience either psychological or physical health problems, or …

A funding agreement, which will assist in ensuring that Childline stays open 24 hours a day, has been confirmed by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and ISPCC/Childline. Recently thse ISPCC, which operates Childline, had warned that funding difficulties in the organisation could force the closure of overnight services. The agreement respects the desire of ISPCC/Childline to remain independent, while at the same time ISPCC has agreed to work with the department in supporting developments in the area of child protection. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr James Reilly who completed the agreement with Mr Dan Flinter, chairman of the ISPCC, congratulated both sides on the successful discussions that have led to today’s announcement. The agreement will see funding provided over a two year period and is aimed at supporting the ISPCC to return to financial sustainability in respect of the Childline service. Dr Reilly has also strongly welcomed the ISPCC agreement involving his department and the …

THERE was a dramatic 134% increase in the number of Clare child protection referrals (CPR) over a five year period from 2008 to 2012, a new report has confirmed. Describing the statistic as “alarming”, HSE West Forum chairman, Councillor Tom McNamara has urged TUSLA, the new Child and Family Agency, to investigate the hike in the Clare child protection referrals from 255 in 2008 to 597 in 2012, which in percentage terms is the highest in the Mid-West. This huge jump was almost two and half times the rise for the western region, which went up by 57% over the same period from 2,614 referrals in 2008 to 4,108 in 2012. The Clare CPR figure of 192.7% per 10,000 is the 11th highest in the country and is also 28.6% higher than the national average of 164.1%. Councillor McNamara is also concerned about the 66% increase in Clare welfare referrals from 425 in 2008 to 707 in 2012. “The increase …