Tusla warns it will blow its budget by almost €68 million this year
The child and family agency warned in an update in May that it had already overspent by €8.9 million but this figure was likely to multiply by the end of the year.
Tusla said its expected overspend for 2025 was €67.8 million, which included €7.6 million for kids in the international protection process and refugees from Ukraine.
In a monthly briefing, the agency said demand for its service was growing, especially for residential care, fostering, legal bills, and separated children seeking asylum.
It said they were trying to cut costs by expanding residential provision to replace special emergency arrangements that were a 'significant cost driver.'
Tusla said some savings had been made in this area in 2024 through a 'strict pricing arrangement' and that this would continue this year.
However, the agency warned that costs remained 'unpredictable' due to the inflated cost of placements.
The briefing explained: 'As the majority of Tusla's expenditure is on demand-led arrangements, it is not possible to reduce expenditure materially to meet the budget allocated, without adversely impacting on services for vulnerable children and families.'
It said there was likely to be an overspend of €38.8 million on placements for special care, fostering, and private residential arrangements.
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Tusla also detailed the high cost of 'out-of-state placements' which involves a small number of children brought to the U.K. when services are not available in Ireland.
The briefing said: 'If the agency cannot place children into special care in the existing facilities in 2025, this has the potential to impact on this year's overspend.'
It said costs for staff travel were also likely to be up by as much as €2.2 million despite on expenses being introduced.
Tusla also detailed a sharp rise in the number of placements for separated children who had applied for international protection in Ireland.
The overspend here was predicted to be around €6.1 million to offer 343 residential placements for vulnerable asylum seekers without parents.
Other areas of concern for Tusla were 'Guardian ad Litem' (GAL) arrangements where a person was appointed to represent the interests of a child in court.
'There is continued increased usage of GALs by the courts,' the document said, 'and this also has an increased legal cost.'
The child and family agency also predicted an overspend for child refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, according to records released under FOI.
Asked about the budget difficulties, a spokesman said: 'Throughout 2025, the agency has experienced unprecedented demand for services, which was unpredictable in nature, and we have worked to prioritise cost saving initiatives around these contributing factors.
'Tusla has strong budget controls in place, however the projected overspend for 2025 is the result of demand-led pressures in the agency for the accommodation of children in the care of the state as well as costs for accommodating unaccompanied minors and associated legal and Guardian ad Litem (GAL) costs.'
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