A lack of Government policy, planning and strategy relating to child protection has been highlighted in a report by the Child Law Project.
The organisation, which has been examining and reporting on judicial childcare proceedings, has compiled findings gathered over the last three years.
In that time, there has been an increased focus from the courts on the lack of appropriate care placements for children as outlined by numerous reports by the organisation.
There has also been an increasing number of instances where members of the judiciary and other professionals expressed concern and frustration that children are falling through the cracks.
CEO of the Child Law Project, Dr Maria Corbett, has said "serious cracks" are evident in the State's response to children.
She pointed to the acute shortage of foster and residential care placements; a dismal response by the HSE to meeting the disability, mental health and addiction needs of children in care; and weak inter-agency cooperation.
"These cracks are having a detrimental impact on some of Ireland’s most vulnerable children," she said.
While the Child Law Project has welcomed the establishment of an inter-agency committee on vulnerable children by the Department of Children it has said "there remains no whole-of-government strategy on child protection".
It has also been pointed out that there is no roadmap to deliver the "legal and policy changes necessary" to create a new placement model of high-support care for children with complex needs and those at risk of exploitation or trafficking.
Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, who will launch the report later, said the report "shines a light" on a care system "creaking at the seams", and "rising judicial concern about the absence of appropriate care placements".
"This report sounds the alarm: some of Ireland's most vulnerable children are falling through the cracks. The key question now is how the State will respond," she said.
The report also features the findings of a survey carried out by the Child Law Project which examined a typical day in court.
The project team attended 38 court venues across the 24 districts that make up the District Court.
They found that in a majority of these courts, childcare cases were being heard alongside other cases in often-crowded lists, painting a picture of a court system under severe strain.
According to the Child Law Project Executive Director Carol Coulter, in over 70% of regional courts, child protection cases were "squeezed into overloaded case lists and heard alongside family, licensing and criminal matters, despite a legal requirement that they be heard separately".
She said the provision of appropriate supports to vulnerable parents, especially those with disabilities, could help keep children in their families and meet Ireland’s obligations under international human rights law.
Since its establishment in 2012, the Child Law Project has published 1,050 reports from child protection proceedings in the courts, maintaining the anonymity of the children and families involved.
Under its current three-year programme of work, court reporting ceased in June 2024 and the last volume of court reports was published in July 2024.
The report "Falling Through the Cracks: An Analysis of Child Care Proceedings from 2021 to 2024", is the final analytical report to be published under the Child Law Project's three-year grant from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth which ended last Thursday.
The department also announced last week that it would begin a competitive procurement process to award a new contract for court reporting which the Child Law Project is considering.
