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 Dublin South East/Wicklow service area.

HIQA conducted this monitoring inspection between 25 and 28 August 2025 to assess the progress the service had made to address non-compliances since the previous inspection in March 2024. HIQA assessed the service against five national standards during this inspection, and found that the service was substantially compliant with two and not compliant with three standards.

In 2024, Tusla submitted a national compliance plan to HIQA which outlined how it would improve services where there were significant numbers of children waiting for a service. This inspection found that there were some areas of improvement since the 2024 inspection; in particular, oversight of notifications to An Garda Síochána and in the area of safety planning for children who had longer-term child protection involvement. 

However, HIQA also found that children and families did not receive a timely service and screening of child protection and welfare referrals did not always result in action being taken as required. As a result, the service was not adhering to Children First: National Guidance for Child Protection and Welfare (2017) or Tusla’s own policies. The processes in place in the area for the management of child protection and welfare concerns were inadequate and interim safety planning remained a risk. Children had been placed on the cases awaiting allocation list without their safety being established. This was escalated as a systems risk following the inspection and a satisfactory response was received from Tusla.

Staff working in the service were committed to keeping children safe, and inspectors found examples of good-quality work where individual children were appropriately safeguarded. Given that longstanding staffing deficits had been recently addressed, there was increased capacity for the service to meet the needs of children in a more timely way. This should mean a better quality service being provided to children at the time they require it most.

Note:

• 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.