A child in Dublin was placed on a wait list for over 14 months, after a referral of sexual abuse was made to Tusla's Child Protection and Welfare Services.
It is one of several cases highlighted in an inspection report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), exposing numerous service delays in the Dublin South Central area.
The child remained on Tusla's medium prioritisation wait list with no therapeutic support, despite a second concern being raised a month later.
The inspection, carried out in April, was part of a monitoring programme set up by HIQA to examine Tusla’s governance in child protection, welfare and foster care services.
In another instance, a referral from An Garda Síochána indicating that a child may have been contacted by "a person of concern" was viewed as low priority.
The child was placed on a waiting list for over 12 months.
Tusla staff did not contact gardaí about where the person - who was the subject of abuse allegations - was living, to establish the level of risk posed.
The case was escalated to the area manager by HIQA to ensure Tusla staff met the child to establish any risk.
HIQA found there were gaps in capacity to carry out assessments of children’s needs in Dublin South Central in a timely manner.
In another case, gardaí made a referral in respect of a one-year-old baby.
Despite a requirement for further information to clarify if there was a risk to the baby; six months later, this still had not been sought.
"This meant that the wellbeing of this baby was not established, as required," according to the report.
In a further case, three referrals were made for a child in February 2023 - two of which were for physical abuse.
A third referral of child welfare was made in February this year but had not been screened to establish the risk of harm.
The report offers an overview of the area examined - Dublin South Central - which it says displays "high levels of deprivation" with 13 electoral districts at various levels of disadvantages.
It notes a highly diverse population with 30% not born in Ireland and 25% belonging to an ethnic minority.
At the beginning of 2025, Dublin South Central had one International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) accommodation centre and 14 emergency accommodation centres accommodating around 832 children.
The area also contains several hubs that support homeless families.
The inspection sought to assess progress that the service had made to address non-compliances discovered in a previous inspection in February 2024.
Tusla had submitted a national compliance plan to HIQA outlining how it would improve services in 2024 when there were significant numbers of children waiting for a service.
Despite some progress in allocating more social workers and in the recruitment and retention of staff, HIQA said "significant concerns remained" about the capacity of the Dublin South Central service to fulfil its statutory obligations.
Of the five national child protection and welfare standards assessed by HIQA, the service was not compliant in all five.
It escalated 13 cases and received a response which "indicated" that all cases had "actions completed" to ensure risks identified were being effectively managed.
HIQA found that governance systems "at all levels" did not ensure that all children received a timely and safe service due to the shortfall in resources to meet demands in the area.
Tusla acknowledged today's publication, noting that the percentage of unallocated cases reduced from 54% in February 2024, to 41% at the time of the inspection, and is currently at 34% because of "focused efforts" in the area.
In a statement it said: "It is important to note that where a child or young person is awaiting allocation, their case is regularly reviewed and if anything changes that necessitates an urgent response, an urgent response is provided".
It added that a compliance action plan had been developed to respond to issues raised in the inspection.
Improvements agreed with HIQA included improved oversight and progression of unallocated cases; implementation of a compliance plan related to child protection and welfare referrals for children in care and the allocation of additional resources to improve service capacity.
