Children's Ombudsman stopped visiting asylum seekers due to budget cuts
asylum seekers
living in
direct provision centres
, new documents show.
Correspondence shows the
ombudsman
, Dr Niall Muldoon, said his office 'cannot continue to fulfil our statutory obligations within existing resourcing'.
Last year he requested additional funding from the
Department of Children
, warning his office had to 'curtail some of our work due to insufficient resources'.
The independent Ombudsman for Children's Office is tasked with handling complaints made by or for children about the actions of public organisations and promoting the rights and welfare of children.
READ MORE
Last February, Dr Muldoon told the department his office had 'no choice' since July 2023 but to 'suspend our regular complaints outreach visits to direct provision centres due to lack of resources' and could now 'only visit centres where serious concerns are reported to us'.
Outreach meetings involved staff visits to direct provision centres where detailed discussions take place with asylum seeker residents or families who have issues.
In the correspondence released under Freedom of Information laws, he said his office has been unable to begin the visits to centres accommodating Ukrainians 'due to the lack of resources'.
'These are measures we did not wish to take, especially in light of our concerns about these children and families, but we felt we had no option but to introduce a priority approach to visits due to lack of resources to fulfil this role,' he said.
Dr Muldoon said efforts to deliver workshops to children who find his office hard to reach, including many in direct provision and mental health units, were also affected.
'We were unable to complete our full programme of visits due to insufficient staffing and this means that many children who are already at serious disadvantage are once again being let down.'
[
Government 'let down' child victims of domestic and sexual violence, ombudsman says
Opens in new window
]
Dr Muldoon sought funding of just under €650,000 for five new posts. In response, the Department of Children's secretary general, Kevin McCarthy, said the budget for the ombudsman's office showed a 10.7 per cent increase over 2023, 'well ahead of overall headline expenditure increases'.
'As for all publicly funded bodies, it will be necessary for the office to prioritise demands for new or expanded service delivery in line with available resources in 2024.'
Dr Muldoon later wrote directly to then minister for children Roderic O'Gorman outlining: 'We cannot continue to fulfil our statutory obligations within existing resourcing.'
He criticised a 'consistent pattern with our budget allocation in recent years which is no longer sustainable'.
He requested a budget allocation of €5.7 million for 2025, arguing the cost of providing existing services would be €5.1 million. Budget 2025 allocated a little more than €5 million.
A spokeswoman for the ombudsman's office said it has 'worked to fully maximise our resources across all of our functions'.
[
Opinion: The direct provision system has reached its limits
Opens in new window
]
She said outreach visits to Oberstown Children Detention Campus and other locations such as direct provision centres are part of the office's work responding to complaints. 'We are committed to continuing to grow our outreach to ensure we are accessible to children who may find us hard to reach.'
It is understood visits taking place primarily respond to complaints received by the ombudsman as opposed to a full programme of site visits.
'The [office] continues to engage with the Department of Children . . . to ensure that our budget for 2026 can meet the demands of the office,' she said.
A spokeswoman for the department said it values the office's work. She said Minister for Children Norma Foley met Dr Muldoon in recent weeks.
She and her department are 'committed to working with the [ombudsman's office] to ensure it continues making a positive contribution'.
[
Opinion: Government has quietly shelved its plan to end direct provision
Opens in new window
]
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
6 hours ago
- Irish Times
Trump drops Ukraine ceasefire demand and suggests Putin plan could bring peace
US president Donald Trump on Saturday split from Ukraine and key European allies after his summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin , adopting Putin's plan for a sweeping peace agreement based on Ukraine ceding unoccupied territory to Russia, instead of the urgent ceasefire Trump had said he wanted before the meeting. Skipping ceasefire discussions would give Russia an advantage in the talks, which are expected to continue on Monday when President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine visits Trump at the White House. It breaks from a strategy Trump and European allies, as well as Zelenskiy, had agreed to before the US-Russia summit in Alaska. Trump told European leaders that he believed a rapid peace deal could be negotiated if Zelenskiy agrees to cede the rest of the Donbas region to Russia, even those areas not occupied by Russian troops, according to two senior European officials briefed on the call. In return, Putin offered a ceasefire in the rest of Ukraine at current battle lines and a written promise not to attack Ukraine or any European country again, the senior officials said. He has broken similar promises before. READ MORE Trump had threatened stark economic penalties if Putin left the meeting without a deal to end the war, but, as European and Russian officials acknowledged, he suspended those threats in the wake of the summit. The American president's moves got a chilly reception in Europe, where leaders have time and again seen Trump reverse positions on Ukraine after speaking with Putin. Trump wrote on Truth Social early on Saturday that he spoke by phone to Zelenskiy and European leaders after his meeting with Putin. He said that 'it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.' European leaders made clear, publicly and privately, that was not the case. They issued a statement that did not echo Trump's claim that peace talks were preferable to a ceasefire. Britain, France, Germany and others welcomed Trump's efforts to stop the war but threatened to increase economic penalties on Russia 'as long as the killing in Ukraine continues'. Still, in public statements, the European leaders praised Trump – in mellower terms than normal – for his efforts to broker peace, and in particular for his pledge to involve the United States in guaranteeing Ukraine's security going forward. Giorgia Meloni , Italy's prime minister, said in a statement that Trump supported a collective-security clause that would allow Ukraine 'to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the US, ready to take action if it is attacked again'. Trump confirmed Zelenskiy's announcement earlier on Saturday that the Ukrainian president would come to the White House on Monday. If that visit goes well, Trump said, he would schedule another meeting with Putin. With Russia advancing on the battlefield, a ceasefire would give Ukraine relief from Moscow's attacks and deprive Putin of some leverage at the bargaining table. Before his meeting with Putin, Trump had agreed with European allies and Zelenskiy that no peace negotiations could begin without a ceasefire in place. Zelenskiy, who was left out of the summit, said in a statement that he and Trump would on Monday 'discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war'. Trump, in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity after the summit, put the onus for securing peace on Zelenskiy. 'Now it is really up to President Zelenskiy to get it done,' he said. 'I would also say the European nations have to get involved a little bit.' Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has demanded that Ukraine cede a large part of its land, disarm, swear off joining Nato and change governments. This article originally appeared in The New York Times . 2025 The New York Times Company
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on Budget 2026: put the focus on what is important
Over the next couple of weeks, as the Autumn political season starts to kick in, debate on October's budget will get underway in earnest. As ever, there will be a cacophony of demands from interest groups and lobbyists, looking for more spending or lower taxes for their particular cause. The job of the Government, of course, is to look through the noise to what is important. Despite the generous amount of €9.4 billion set aside for budget measures, this will not be easy. Money will be quickly eaten up through spending pressures in providing State services. Plans to hike vital investment expenditure need to be allowed for. And the demands on the table already would take up the €1.5 billion set aside for tax reductions a few times over. Yet while the choices will be sharp in some areas, context is needed. This is not shaping up to be a 'tough' budget. The promised package is still nearly three times the size of the last pre-Covid budget in 2019. The first job of the Government, indeed, is to start returning annual budgets to more sustainable levels, reducing them from the huge spending rises required during Covid-19 and to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. Claims that households are still squeezed need to be met in two ways. One is by appropriate increases in welfare and other support packages. The other is by continuing to improve the provision of services in areas such as health, education and childcare. These are much more effective in the longer-term than another round of universal cash supports. But by engaging in a blatant pre-election manoeuvre last year to repeat these 'once-off' supports again, Ministers have created a rod for their own back this time around. READ MORE Statements from Ministers that there would be no cost-of-living package this time appear to have become more equivocal in recent weeks. But giving a lot of money out again through these payments to all households is an inefficient use of State cash. If the Government does not bring this process to an end in the first budget of its new term, then – barring a big squeeze on the State finances – it never will. The plan to increase vital State investment is a key reason why there needs to be some restraint elsewhere. Realistic budgeting for the provision of State services also needs to be restored, ending the annual overruns in areas like health. Relying on corporate tax to keep outperforming as a way to pay for spending coming in ahead of target each year is not a good strategy. The other reason for caution is the uncertainty faced due to the policies of Donald Trump. Despite the trade deal between the EU and US, the economic and political backdrop for Ireland remains risky and unpredictable. Having cash in reserve and pursuing a strategic approach have seldom looked more important.
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Presidential election: Seán Kelly to ‘weigh up options' about seeking Fine Gael nomination
Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly says 'the goalposts have changed' and he is reconsidering seeking a nomination from his party to contest the presidential election later this year. Former MEP Mairead McGuinness had been chosen as Fine Gael's candidate, and was regarded as a front-runner, but this week withdrew from the campaign on health grounds . Mr Kelly, a former GAA president, ruled himself out of the running in early July, which he said was the 'most difficult decision' of his political life, but on Saturday said 'the goalposts have changed' following the announcement regarding Ms McGuinness. He told Newstalk's Anton Savage Show he had not sought to be nominated as Fine Gael's candidate earlier this year, but would now 'weigh up all the options'. READ MORE 'When circumstances change, then obviously you have to look at things in a different light,' he said, adding that he has 'complete sympathy' for Ms McGuinness. The Ireland South MEP said Fine Gael would have a meeting in the coming days to decide its strategy and then 'I'll see what I will do after that'. 'There is a need to see what the national executive wants to do next week.' Former minister Heather Humphreys did not run in last year's general election, but has emerged as a favoured candidate among the Fine Gael parliamentary party. She said in May she was not interested in running for president, but there are hopes within her party that she may be open to changing her mind. Asked if he was concerned that Ms Humphreys might already have the necessary support sewn up, Mr Kelly said: 'I don't think it has even reached the stage where they're contemplating who to run because they are all showing respect for Mairead. 'I think next week will be time enough to reflect properly on that and take action. There's no rush, so then let's take it as it comes.' Mr Kelly said that if he enters the race he will be doing so 'to win it'. Frances Fitzgerald , a former MEP and minister for justice, on Friday said she did not intend to contest the election to succeed Michael D Higgins . Independent Galway West TD Catherine Connolly is currently the only candidate who has the required support to contest the election.
