A Dublin District Court Judge has described the performance of the Child and Family Agency in its duties and obligations to 250 children as "shocking and appalling".
In a judgment issued this week, Judge Conor Fottrell said Tusla had failed to have regard to the best interests of the children who were left without allocated social workers.
Judge Fottrell raised serious concerns over governance, oversight and communication within the agency after undertaking an inquiry into Tusla's "extraordinary failure" to comply with court orders on a "widespread" level.
The court said that "the sheer number of children involved" across social work departments highlighted "multiple failures" within the agency at all levels.
He found that no action was taken by the State agency in respect of court orders for the children and no one took responsibility to comply with them, according to the judgement.
The court decision covers a 13-month period beginning in February 2024, when it first came to the court's attention, up to March 2025.
Each case had to be re-entered before the court for a welfare review and update on the care of each child.
Evidence and correspondence showed that senior management in Tusla at local, regional and national level were aware of the issue as far back as 2022.
The judgment notes that at the very first opportunity when a case became unallocated, each one of them should have been re-entered in compliance with each court order.
"However, the agency made absolutely no effort to demonstrate compliance with any of these orders and to inform the court that children in care were without an allocated social worker.
"The sheer number of children involved across social work departments highlights multiple failures within the agency at all levels," it states.
Tusla's Chief Executive Officer Kate Duggan acknowledged in correspondence to the court that she was aware of the issue in December 2022 when she was in a previous role as Director of Services and Integration,.
However, she did not escalate the matter to the then CEO or the Executive Management Team as it was deemed "an operational matter".
On reflection, she said she accepted that the issue should have been escalated at that time and shared with the Executive Management Team and Board.
Ms Duggan and Tusla's regional manager accepted the agency should have re-entered the cases and offered "sincere apologies to the court and the children subject to these care orders".
Huge concern that children left without social workers, says IASW chair
The Chairman of the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) has said that it was concerning that children were being left without social workers.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Vivian Guerin said Tusla plays a vital role in terms of child protection and care across the country, and social workers play a key part in that child protection and welfare system.
"It's really of huge concern to us that a significant number of children were left without an allocated social worker legally and as allocated by the court," he said.
Mr Guerin said that the shortage was down to neglect from Government.
"The shortage of social workers in the country is nothing new, and it's been going on for a number of years and reflects a long-standing Government neglect, which is partly due, in my view, to the fact that no single Government department is responsible for strategic planning in relation to social work services," he said.
Mr Guerin said that a number of solutions were being provided by the IASW in an effort to tackle the shortage, such as an ad-hoc forum with universities and services employing social workers and an apprenticeship programme in social work.
He added that referrals to Tusla are expected to be at an all-time high when their figures for last year are published.
