Tusla has apologised for its “disrespectful” behaviour after it failed to notify the court system about the care of vulnerable children. 

In March, Judge Conor Fottrell rebuked the organisation for its “shocking and appalling behaviour” after he was informed that hundreds of children had not been allocated social workers following court orders. 

Each child in foster care is meant to have their own social worker to monitor them and provide them with support. 

On The Pat Kenny Show, Tusla CEO Kate Duggan described this as a “very important” aspect of the care system. 

“Those cases are under the auspices of the court; the courts, rightly so, have the obligation to monitor the care that’s being provided to those children,” she said. 

“Over the last number of years, where we have not had the resources to be able to allocate a social worker to all of those children, the focus has very much been on trying to ensure that we had eyes on those children and that another professional was allocated to look after to care for that child. 

“But in this instant, what didn’t happen - and it should have happened - was that where a care order had been indicated, that the judge should have been informed if another professional had been allocated.” 

Ms Duggan added that the vast majority of children in care are allocated a social worker. 

“Today, the figure is about 98%,” she said. 

“So, 98% of children in care would have a professional allocated; in this circumstance, the issue is that we did not notify the court of that. 

“That is disrespectful to the court.” 

'Court orders are being implemented' - Tusla

She added that Tusla treats court orders with the utmost seriousness. 

“What I can assure you is that any child today who is open to the court, their court orders are being implemented,” she said. 

When asked why she declined to testify in court on the matter, Ms Duggan said her colleagues were capable of doing so on behalf of Tusla. 

“We under our structures have devolved responsibility where we have regional chief officers who would be much closer to the detail of a case,” she said. 

“What did provide to the court was an assurance that those regional chief officers were available to come in and talk to the court. 

“I am going to go in and attend to the court once this process is completed.”

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