Case of missing presumed dead boy in Co Dublin is 'horrifying and heartbreaking' - Children's Rapporteur

Vivienne Clarke

The Children’s Rapporteur Caoilfhionn Gallagher has described the case of the missing child who is presumed dead in north Co Dublin as “horrifying and heartbreaking.”

“I very much understand the public concern that I'm seeing about how this could happen with a three and a half year old child and you often hear that phrase it takes a village to raise a child but there's also that real question about us needing to have a village, to watch out for children so we spot when things go wrong,” she told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.

Concerns for the boy were raised by Tusla, the child and family agency, and reported to gardaí on Friday, August 29th.

The boy would now be seven years old, but it has been a number of years since there has been any confirmed sighting of the boy.

However, Ms Gallagher said it was “very positive” that the case was progressing swiftly. A key question, she said, was whether the child had previously been known to the authorities. She acknowledged that the disappearance of a child would not have been apparent during Covid lockdowns.

“Did this child have a social worker? Had there been any previous references of concern to the Gardaí and so on? And there's nothing whatsoever to indicate at the moment that this child was on the radar of any authorities. So from what we know, it sounds as if when Tusla learned of the concerns after the social welfare claims, they responded quickly, they raised questions with the Gardaí."

“Gardaí have acted quickly and things are in process. So it's a horrifying and heartbreaking case but actually at the moment I don't see from the publicly available information, which is all I've got, I don't necessarily see that in terms of institutional responses, this raises the same types of concerns that we have in the horrendous case of Kyran Durnin.

“I'm obviously extremely concerned by what I've heard about this child, and my heart goes out to this child's loved ones," Ms Gallagher said.

"I think there are real questions about whether at any stage, including preschoolers, but also including children who are post-compulsory school age, whether we need to have better systems in place for ensuring that vulnerable children, children who may be at risk, are on the radar.”

Ms Gallagher said it was important that any investigations into the Kyran Durnin case and the current missing child case needed to be fully transparent.

“People feel uneasy. And one of the advantages of having a public type process, a transparent process, is it can reassure the public that lessons are in fact being learned and that processes are being changed so you never have a horrifying case like this again in the future.

“There's questions to be answered, and at the moment those questions are being answered behind closed doors, which I think contributes to public concern. And you've of course got to do it carefully, because once you've got an active investigation, you need to be very careful to ensure that you don't prejudice any ongoing criminal investigations."

"But there are ways in which that can be done in a safe way," she added.

“I think there is a real public level of concern wanting to know whether the systems are fit for purpose. And it seems to me rather than just dealing on a firefighting basis with each individual case when they arise, we need to have a much more radical look at whether our systems do the job and whether they're protecting children in Ireland as well as they could be.

“I think on some of the small silo issues, you know, progress has been made. For example, I'm very pleased to see that Minister Norma Foley recently looked at the issue of cross-border cooperation, because, of course, in Kyran Durnin's case, there's a very particular issue about it being said that he was going across the border to school in Northern Ireland and falling through the cracks at that point.

“So I am conscious that a lot of good work is being done on specific issues, but it feels that every time we do that on child protection, it's reactive. We wait until the next crisis hits, then there is a political response. And it seems to me, we need to proactively look at our child protection systems and why we're repeatedly getting these horrifying cases.”

The Irish Times have reported that the boy was just three to four years old when he was last seen.

The paper also reported that it understands gardaí have spoken to the parents of the child, one of whom is abroad and one who remains in Ireland. Both are Irish citizens, The Irish Times added.

The investigation is being led by a Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) at Swords Garda Station.

Gardaí have appealed to anyone who has any information in connection with this investigation to contact Swords Garda Station on 01 666 4700, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.

No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing, a garda statement said.