Last night, “RTÉ Investigates” broadcast a shocking report on Tusla and children in State care. This is something we in Aontú have been raising solidly for the past five years. The report was obscene. Young children are being taken from very difficult backgrounds from their parents and being placed into special emergency arrangements. These are often unregulated, often with staff who are unvetted and some of those staff do not even have references. Children are being located in apartments and hotel rooms and are being moved around on a regular basis. In short spaces of time, a child could be in 20 separate locations. Children are sleeping in car parks and sleeping in broken-down cars. They are being groomed by crack cocaine dealers. Children are being sexually abused while in the care of Tusla. Children are being raped in the care of Tusla and known to Tusla. This was reported last night.

We have uncovered a harrowing case of a 14-year-old girl who went missing from Tusla just 24 hours after she was placed there. The child was missing for an entire year. She was then found in a brothel. She was a victim of unimaginable exploitation when she was supposedly in the Government’s protection. The Minister has refused in a follow-up question by ourselves to answer if anyone has ever been prosecuted for the trafficking and exploitation of that child. Children are being killed in the care of Tusla and known to Tusla.

Two hundred and thirty-five children known to child protection services have been killed in the last 12 years. There have been 13 homicides, 38 deaths as a result of suicide, and, in another parliamentary question from us, we learned that eight children were killed so far this year who were known to Tusla or in the care of Tusla. Mr. Justice John Jordan said that some of these failures are outrageous and an affront to the rule of law. He warned that Tusla is extraordinarily exposed to significant future compensation claims as a result of the harm that is being done to these children. Judge John Campbell stated that he was incandescent with rage that a secure bed could not be found for a child deemed at risk of death. He noted that children who should be getting ready for Santa Claus were being placed in unregulated placements. Judge Simms provided three important documents to the last Minister for children, Roderic O'Gorman, which were shredded. I believe this is one of the most disgusting, shocking scandals that has happened to children in the history of this State. When I first raised this in the Dáil four or five years ago, it was so horrendous that I was sure that the Government would put an end to these special emergency arrangements. It has not. It is actually getting worse. Will the Tánaiste give a commitment today and a date for when the Government will end the special emergency arrangements in this country?

I thank the Deputy for raising last night's programme. It is a programme which has been extraordinarily difficult for people across the country to watch. First and foremost, I thank the young people who came forward and shared their experience of the care system. It takes a lot of courage and bravery to do so and to do so in such a public manner. I commend "RTÉ Investigates" on the work it did on this. It highlighted a number of very challenging cases and indeed upsetting cases about vulnerable children who the State should support and protect. Of that, there is no doubt. Listening to some of the negative experiences, although frankly that phrase does not capture it, so I should say listening to some of the horrors that some very vulnerable children have endured while entrusted to the care of our State raises significant questions.

Many fine people are working in Tusla. I do not think the Deputy is taking from that fact. They are working in extraordinarily difficult circumstances and often with very complex cases. I acknowledge them because they are doing good work, which is important to say.

On the specific issue the Deputy raised about the use of special emergency arrangements, this is effectively where the State becomes reliant on a private operator to provide accommodation in an emergency situation. It is good to see that the reliance on that is being reduced, although it is still too high. I think it has been reduced from around 170 children in special emergency arrangements last year to 70 but Tusla is now working to reduce that further in the coming months. I spoke to the chief executive officer of Tusla this morning and I understand that there are around 69 of these centres. Nineteen of those centres are due to be registered from 1 May. There is a further plan regarding another 19 of them too. I genuinely believe Tusla is working its way through this with a real sense of urgency. It has closed six centres and stopped working with them, and there have been five Garda referrals over a period of time. The Deputy mentioned some absolute horrors, as is his right in this House. I do not want anyone to think that any part of this country, service in this country or any individual in this country is beyond the reproach of An Garda Síochána or the law in this land. I think the CEO said connections with six centres have been ceased and there have been five Garda referrals. There are also internal monitoring teams in Tusla, which have carried out 300 visits.

It is also true that there has been an increase in the number of children requiring care, as the Deputy knows. We have seen an increase in the number of separated children seeking international protection. That reduced a lot compared with what it was a year or 18 months ago. Tusla is having to deal in real time with these pressures. It is very serious.

The Tánaiste has not given a date or a commitment that these will be closed completely. The "RTÉ Investigates" programme was of great value but there was one problem with it. The Minister for children was invisible in that show. Tusla is not operating in a vacuum. Tusla is a product of the Tánaiste's Government. It is a responsibility of the Government's Minister. The lack of funds and the lack of social workers is a policy choice by the Government. This scandal is unfolding in Tusla. It ranks up there with many of the scandals in the past but the difference is that this is unfolding in real time for the Government, and Tusla cannot be used as some kind of insulation blanket to separate the Tánaiste's Government from the responsibility for this horror. The Tánaiste said once that he wanted this country to be the best country in the world to be a child. For many of these children, with these horrors, it is one of the worst countries in the world to be a child at the moment. Children are being killed, raped and groomed at a cost of €14,000 a week to the State. When will there be accountability? When will the resources be matched to the needs? Will the Tánaiste give a date and a commitment that by the end of this year, these SEAs will be closed?

I need to be very careful here. There are extraordinarily harrowing cases that deserve and require a full investigation. I know that, over time, there have been five referrals to An Garda Síochána. The gardaí do their job very well but we should also acknowledge that Tusla is not the problem here. Tusla is working with children in very vulnerable and complex situations. It is not acceptable for any child to have an adverse or bad experience but it is important to say that-----

It is a sanitised response.

The same rules apply to Deputy Tóibín as to anyone.

It is important to say that there are around 6,000 children in our care system, living with foster parents and in registered centres. The vast majority are in education and training. It is also true, in fairness to the Minister, Deputy Foley, who is working hard on this matter, that she secured an increase in the Tusla budget of €177 million this year on top of an additional €53 million in additional capital funding. The use of these centres is decreasing and Tusla is determined to continue to decrease it.

No date, Tánaiste.