The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published an inspection report on the child protection and welfare service operated by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) in the Galway North network.

HIQA conducted this monitoring inspection between 24 and 27 February 2026 to assess compliance with National Standards for the Protection and Welfare of Children (2012). HIQA assessed the network against four national standards and found that the network was substantially compliant with two standards and not compliant with two standards.

Overall, the governance and oversight arrangements in place required significant improvement. The systems of oversight to ensure the timely screening of referrals of children to the service were inadequate. There was poor oversight of staff caseloads, which led to significant gaps in records of some children’s cases. Children had to wait long periods for a service, despite being allocated to a social worker. These children were not subjected to the same governance arrangements as children on the waitlist and this posed a significant risk to their safety and wellbeing. 

Galway North was not adequately resourced to ensure it could effectively manage referrals to the service. Local managers had structured the teams in line with the local integrated service delivery (LISD) model in an effort to meet the prioritised needs of children and families. At the time of inspection, the resources available to operate the new model of service delivery were not adequate to meet demands and provide a quality service for children and their families, despite the network being at its full staff allocation. 

Most concerns received by the Galway North network about children were screened promptly. Improvement was required to ensure the timely review and screening of referrals for children in care, as well as ensuring that appropriate actions were taken in a consistent manner when children were identified to be at immediate risk of harm. Improvement was also required in the completion of initial assessments and preliminary enquiries in a timely way to support children and families. Notifications of child abuse to An Garda Síochána required significant improvement to ensure that they were completed promptly. Appropriate systems were in place for the management of risk and the sharing of learning. However, further improvement was needed regarding the effective sharing and implementation of all learnings. 

The Galway North network facilitated children and families to access child protection and welfare services. The service promoted and supported early interventions for concerns about the welfare of children and addressed these through family support services. Staff engaged families and involved them in all aspects of planning to prevent risk of harm to children, as appropriate. 

HIQA escalated two individual cases to the Galway North network for immediate action during the inspection and requested an immediate review of all open and closed physical abuse cases. The response provided demonstrated that actions had been taken or planned to address these concerns.

Following the inspection, Tusla submitted a satisfactory compliance plan, which outlined plans to address the issues identified during the inspection.

Notes:

• In January 2026, as part of Tusla’s structural reform programme, child protection and welfare services moved from being delivered by 17 service areas to 30 networks. This was the first inspection of the Galway North network following the reform programme. 
• The local integrated service delivery (LISD) model introduced a single point of access for early intervention, family support and child protection services, and the implementation of Local Integrated Teams, responsible for an integrated response to children and families in local geographical areas, in line with presenting need.
• HIQA is authorised by the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality under Section 8(1) (c) of the Health Act 2007 to monitor the quality of services provided by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) to protect children and promote their welfare. HIQA monitors Tusla’s performance against the National Standards for the Protection and Welfare of Children (2012) and advises the Minister and Tusla.