Tusla letting down families with delays to investigations, says watchdog
DELAYS at the State’s childprotection agency, Tusla, in investigating allegations of abuse are denying justice to those involved, a leading children’s rights advocate has warned.
Geoffrey Shannon, the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, was responding to the Ombudsman’s report earlier this week, which raised serious concerns about how quickly Tusla works.
In one case, the agency took five years to clear the name of a grandfather. In another, a letter was sent twice to the wrong address, with the result that the person being accused could not respond to the allegations made against them.
Mr Shannon told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘A delay in examining allegations of abuse may have very serious consequences. Certainly in the area of child abuse, justice delayed is often justice denied.
‘Allegations should be investigated expeditiously – both for the benefit of any vulnerable children involved and for those who have been accused.’
Mr Shannon said due process must be applied but that doing so should not cause delays.
He continued: ‘It is important to note that not every claim will result in a prosecution.
‘That said, there is nothing more serious than to make an allegation of abuse against a parent or any citizen, in that it has serious consequences.
‘As it is so serious, it should be dealt with expeditiously by all concerned, having regard to the rights of all parties.’
Other issues raised by the Ombudsman in this week’s report included the storing and use of people’s private information.
In four cases out of the nine examined, the accused people did not receive full details of what was going on or, in one case, did not receive a written letter at all with any details.
Mr Shannon said: ‘From May next year, there will be new data-protection laws in Ireland and agencies will have to be more vigilant in how sensitive data is handled.’
Responding to the Ombudsman report, Tusla said new procedures were now in place, including a complaints system, called ‘Tell Us’, on its website.
However Mr Shannon said these changes must take effect everywhere in the country that Tusla is working.
In his report, the Ombudsman also criticised ‘serious administrative failures’ and was critical of the way in which Tusla staff dealt with complaints, saying the tone of letters sent in response was ‘overly defensive’.
The report follows a systemic investigation by the Ombudsman’s office, acting on information received about the pace of Tusla’s processing of complaints.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Mr Tyndall said: ‘My investigation has found that in some cases there have been serious failings in how Tusla carries out its role.
‘However, Tusla has accepted the findings in my report. It has agreed to implement the recommendations, which are aimed at improving Tusla’s procedures.
‘Tusla has already started to implement some recommendations and I will closely monitor how they are being implemented.’
‘Justice delayed is often justice denied’