Children’s Minister gives Kyran Durnin update, reveals new child is missing
Gardaí have been called in about a third missing child, Children’s Minister Norma Foley has revealed.Her Department later said it had been told the child had been taken abroad by a parent.“A ten-year-old boy, who is a member of a family from another country, was attending school in Ireland. He did not return to school in September,” a spokesperson said.“A school made a referral to the office run by Túsla [the Child and Family Agency] to investigate children who are absent from education. “This office was established in July and takes referrals on children absent from school for more than 20 days, about whom there is a concern in relation to the absences.“The Túsla office carried out its own checks and established that the child had been in Ireland in September. It made a formal report to International Social Services. But it was unable to confirm the child’s current location.“A referral was then made to An Garda Siochána in November in line with procedures. The mother of the boy was interviewed by Gardaí and confirmed the boy had left the country with his father and was now resident in another EU state.“Gardaí are making follow-up inquiries to confirm this is the case.”Minister Norma Foley Photo: PAThe Minister made the disclosure at the end of an event publishing very limited details of an official report on the case of Kyran Durnin.Kyran, from Drogheda, is last known to have been alive in June 2022 aged 6 and Tusla had been in contact with his family.He was only reported missing in August 2024, with gardaí pursuing a murder investigation.Ms Foley called that an “exceptional case”, before being reminded of a second, in which the remains of another child whose family had engaged with Tusla and had been missing since 2022, Daniel Aruebose, aged two, were found in a shallow grave in north Dublin this summer.Minister Foley then revealed that a third child was known to be missing.Ms Foley said there was “a concern raised” over the missing child which had prompted the calling-in of the Gardaí.Asked when she learned of this latest case, she said: “In the last day.”She later added: “I have asked for an update from An Garda Siochána.”The minister had called the press conference to release only a series of recommendations from the National Review Panel report into the case of Kyran Durnin, which she said were restricted on the advice of the Attorney General.She said she was precluded from commenting on other aspects, conveying that there were matters that were sub judice or which could yet result in possible prosecutions.She also announced new legislation to ensure that Túsla and other child care agencies were talking to each other, but said this was statutory underpinning, in response to a suggestion that she was closing the stable door after the horse had bolted.In many cases, agencies were already talking to each other, she said.But Ms Foley was also forced to admit that months have elapsed without establishing protocols for looking into 42,000 cases that may not have been properly monitored during the Covid pandemic.No case has yet been reassessed, but it is expected to begin shortly and the programme to be completed around April or May 2026, she said.Referring to the pandemic, she said: “Much of what happened was in those years.”From January there will also be a single point of access for cases of childcare concern, and files will follow children as they move around the country.There has also been close cooperation with the authorities in Northern Ireland, she said, with a view to ensuring cross-border monitoring for both sets of authorities.
