Gardaí believe the remains of a boy, who is missing and assumed dead, are buried on lands in north Co Dublin even though an initial search at a precise section pointed out to the force did not yield the hoped-for outcome.
Detectives have spoken to the mother and father of the missing child, as well as other people who knew him, and sealed off and examined a section of open ground near Donabate.
The person who led gardaí to the area identified a specific spot as where the child, who would be about seven if he was alive, was buried.
Gardaí examined that area closely, prodding the soil before bringing in a cadaver dog, which did not indicate that remains were present.
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Sources believe the heavy brush on the land at present, as well as the passage of about four years since the missing boy is believed to have died, may have resulted in the wrong location being pinpointed.
The area identified was part of a very large site, which will take some time to be fully explored. The search was suspended on Thursday night and is due to resume on Friday.
Missing, feared dead: unanswered questions as Gardaí search for vanished Dublin boy
Gardaí fear the child died about four years ago and his remains were buried in an attempt to conceal his death. However, whether his death arose due to foul play, or in other circumstances, remains undetermined.
A property in Donabate, where the boy was living in a family setting, was sealed off and searched last weekend.
The child was in the care of the State for a long period, from the time he was a newborn, as his parents were considering adoption. However, they had a change of heart and the boy was reunited with them.
Tusla concluded its involvement with the family in 2020 with no further matters coming to light in the years that followed.
However, Tusla last Friday went to the Garda and flagged its concerns for the boy’s welfare. The intervention appears to have come about after checks were made on a social welfare payment relating to the child that resulted in unanswered questions about his whereabouts.
The matter has been referred to the independent National Review Panel (NRP) for investigation.
On Thursday, the Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon, sharply criticised Tusla’s response of referring its review of the case to its National Review Panel.
Tusla said it does so as normal process, where there is a serious incident or death involving a child previously known to its service.
However, Dr Muldoon said the panel held no statutory power and that both Tusla and the Department of Children previously agreed it was not fit for purpose.
It was, he said, “shocking that we are dealing with a situation where a child, who at one point was known to the Tusla, could have disappeared four years ago and is now presumed dead”.
“How could that have happened? How could a child have been born, dealt with all the relevant agencies and services and then apparently just disappear?”
Dr Muldoon said the NRP has no statutory power nor independent authority to publish reports.
“It is disrespectful to the families involved that this is the limited response by the State, to find out what happened, and what could have been done better,” he said. “It is not good enough that Tusla’s answer to a serious incident like the disappearance and possible death of a child is a referral to a review process that reports back into the Board of Management of Tusla.
“It is not accurate to say this is a powerful vehicle that can provide the answers needed in these serious cases.”
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.
As a result, questions have arisen about the child and family agency, in particular its actions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, Tusla chief executive Kate Duggan described the case of the missing boy in Donabate as “really awful and harrowing”.
She said there had been “misinformation” surrounding the case and added that she wanted to be as transparent as possible.
However, she said she had to respect the legal rights of individuals involved and calls from the Garda Commissioner [Justin Kelly] not to say anything that may impact the investigation.
“This boy was known to us, and his family had made contact with us, and we provided them with care and support from the period 2017 to 2020, and that was primarily intensive and direct parenting supports,” she said.
“The reports that I’ve received from that service is that there were not child protection concerns in relation to this family, and that our intervention and our engagement with this family certainly centred around support.”
She further insisted that the case of the Donabate boy was not closed due to Covid-19. She said the closure of the case was because it was deemed to be “the most appropriate step to take”.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said he had spoken to Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly about the case and that the investigation team in Swords was “following a very definite line of inquiry from information they have received”.
He believed “we should await the outcome of the Garda investigation before we start jumping to conclusions in respect of Tusla”.
Minister for Children Norma Foley has said Tusla will now check on the welfare of all children who were in its care, or who were known to it, during the Covid-19 period, and whose cases are now closed.
Some 38,000 child welfare and protection cases were closed during the 2020-2021 period, with no further contact since.
When asked what additional resources had been put in place to aid Tusla in carrying out the checks, the department said it was “liaising” with the agency though “the process is still in the early stages of planning”.
