The HSE today denied a claim that five Kenyan children were in its care when they went missing last summer.
The HSE said it refuted claims by Mary Nicholson of the ISPCC that five Kenyan girls had disappeared from its care during a Scout or Brownie Jamboree in 2007. Ms Nicholson was speaking at University College Cork during a weekend conference on child trafficking.
Speaking this afternoon, Caroline O'Sullivan, ISPCC director of services, clarified it was inaccurate to say the five girls had been in the HSE's care when they vanished. She said confusion had been caused when the example was referred to in a broader discussion of a lack of services for missing children.
Ms O'Sullivan added that the broader issue was the need for a 24-hour, multidisciplinary service that could identify such children and ensure they were provided with suitable accommodation and services.
The HSE said it understood that 12 Kenyan children entered Ireland with visas to attend the event and went missing.
It noted, however, that several children believed to be in the group are now being cared for by the HSE, and that the incident is being investigating by gardaí.
At the conference, Ms Nicholson said that figures from the Department of Justice showed 441 children in the executive's care went missing between 2000 and 2007, with 388 still unaccounted for.
But the HSE called the figures "misleading" and said the number of missing children has "declined dramatically", from a high of 81 in 2001 to 32 in 2007. The pattern of children going missing is similar to other EU countries, the HSE claimed.
Mr David Walsh, manager with the executive's primary community and continuing care services, said it was "continuing to prioritise" services for separated children seeking asylum, and that the body was working with other state departments to counter human trafficking.
Senator Kathleen Lynch, Labour spokeswoman on equality, today said that, in the context of reports of an increase in human trafficking, there are "huge concerns" over what might have happened to the Kenyan girls after they vanished.
She condemned the level of supervision in State care as "woefully inadequate".
"In many instances these children are holed up in hostels, often without a 24/7 HSE childcare presence. That is unacceptable."
Responding to the 441 children recorded as going missing between 2000 and 2007, Fine Gael last week expressed concern that some immigrant children have been trafficked into the sex industry.
The party's immigration spokesman, Denis Naughten, said: "When I raised this issue recently with former justice minister Brian Lenihan he said he would pursue it with the HSE. However, there needs to be evidence of action being taken."
Last year, 31 children - a quarter of all those who were placed in State care after they arrived unaccompanied from outside the EU - disappeared, Mr Naughten said. "They include five young Nigerian girls who vanished in June 2007, the youngest of whom was just 11 years old."
