Search continues for boy missing from Dublin feared dead

The search of open ground for a boy missing from north Dublin and feared dead has entered its sixth day.

Irish police are investigating the disappearance and whereabouts of the child, who would be seven-years-old if still alive.

He is thought to have last lived in The Gallery Apartments in Donabate, Dublin.

Gardai began a search of open ground in Donabate on Tuesday which has continued over the weekend.

The area of interest being searched is an overgrown field off the Portrane Road, which features a small wooded area.

The child and family agency Tusla raised concerns about the boy’s welfare with gardai on August 29.

The agency had previously engaged with the missing child’s family five years ago.

Tusla became involved when the boy’s parents felt they would not be able to look after him, Minister for Children Norma Foley said.

Tusla’s chief executive Kate Duggan said there were no child protection concerns during interactions with the boy’s family prior to the case being closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The matter has been referred to the independent National Review Panel (NRP) for investigation.

Tusla is also carrying out “well-being checks” on up to 38,000 cases that were closed during the pandemic following concerns raised by Ms Foley.

This is the second case of a child living in Ireland who was missing for years before the case came to the attention of authorities.

Kyran Durnin, who would be nine this year if still alive, was reported missing in August last year and a murder investigation was launched in October.

Dr Helen Buckley, chairwoman of the National Review Panel (NRP), said the report into Kyran’s case was in the final stages of completion and would be with the minister within five to six weeks.

In the case of the boy missing from north Dublin, she said it was likely they would compile a case chronology and identify people to interview, including Tusla staff, HSE staff and anyone else who provided a service for the child.

“When we are satisfied that we have sufficient information, we start to draft an analysis and conclusions for the report,” she said.

The report would then go to Minister Foley, who would decide whether it was published.

She said such reports did not usually cut across parallel Garda investigations.

Responding to criticism of the NRP from the Children’s Ombudsman Niall Muldoon, she said he had “misrepresented” their work.

“I’m happy to set the record straight on what the ombudsman said. He, in fact, I think, misrepresented our work by saying we had only 19 reports published when in fact, if you look at our website, you see there are 90 reports published, most of which are systemic in nature, where it is necessary to be,” she said.

“Our focus is generally, mainly on Tusla, but where other organisations, such as schools, such as HSE, services such as CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services), public health nursing, are involved, we will seek to meet with those as well.”

She said she agreed with the ombudsman’s argument that the NRP did not have statutory footing and said their process would benefit from this.

She said there had been “very few” cases where the panel had been refused records that it requested.

“We have three issues, I’ve raised these every year in the annual report, and these would be governance, inter-agency working and independence,” she said.

“Now we do work very independently, some of our panel members are from outside the jurisdiction, but I think the public perception of our independence isn’t always as clear as it should be, and it would certainly help that.

“It would mean that we had probably faster access to records from other organisations, and we’d also have a more robust system.”