I rise this morning because the State's protection of vulnerable children is once again failing in ways that should be deeply troubling to this House. In recent weeks, the courts have heard evidence of children placed in State care who were left without proper supervision and without allocated social workers, and who were exposed to serious exploitation.

One teenage girl already under an interim care order went missing repeatedly while in care and was allegedly sexually abused by adult men across the city. The agencies responsible for her did not account for her movements and objectively failed to keep her safe. In circumstances where a child is repeatedly reported missing, where serious criminal abuse is alleged and where sexual exploitation is openly discussed in court, it is reasonable to ask where was the Garda and whether every appropriate safeguarding and investigative measure activated in time.

In another series of cases, despite direct court orders, children were left for months without allocated social workers. In one case, official records show a child having annual contact with a father who was long deceased. That is not a minor error; it is evidence of a system that has lost command of basic oversight. These failures are not isolated. They mirror what the Child Law Project has consistently documented. Interim care orders are extended indefinitely and unregulated emergency arrangements become the default. Judges are forced to repeatedly recall cases just to maintain accountability.

What is especially troubling is the moral confusion that surrounds these failures. While many Irish politicians are quick, and rightly so, to condemn the creation of harmful artificial images involving children, they have been far quieter when confronted with documented cases of the actual sexual abuse of minors occurring within State-managed systems. This imbalance discredits public debate and those involved and suggests a troubling preference for performative outrage over confronting reality. Children do not consent to chaos. They do not consent to drifting between placements or protection that exists only on paper.

I ask that this House schedule an urgent debate on compliance with child protection orders, the continued use of unregulated emergency places, the role of inter-agency safeguarding - including an Garda Síochána - and persistent failures to allocate social workers to children already in care before yet another judge is left to ask how the obvious was allowed to happen.