M-Compass Media (2026)

09/01/2026

€𝟐𝟓𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚, 𝐜𝐨𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥, 𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝. 𝐘𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝. 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚.

More than a quarter of a million euro was spent on training Irish judges between September 2023 and October 2025, according to records released under freedom of information.

The Judicial Council spent €250,718 in that period, including €77,200 in 2025 and €125,000 in 2024. The spending covered non legal and professional development courses as well as travel for training events inside and outside Ireland.

Training topics included how to avoid retraumatising victims, understanding coercive control, judicial accountability, writing judgments, managing bias in court, courtroom control, communicating with children and hearing the voice of the child. Judges also received training in unconscious bias, neurodiversity, ADHD, human rights and working with LGBTQ+ and Traveller communities.

Outreach programmes involved engagement with newer communities in Ireland, including Russian Orthodox, African and Muslim groups. Language lessons were also provided in French, German and Irish.

Judges took part in visits to prisons and detention facilities including Mountjoy Prison, Portlaoise Prison and Oberstown Children Detention Campus to better understand the penal system.

International training included a residential course on judicial accountability with the European Judicial Training Network in Brussels in 2023 and an exchange programme with the Spanish judiciary in 2024, along with other EU based training.

The Judicial Council said this training is part of its statutory duty to support continuing education for judges across three areas, legal knowledge, practical judgecraft and the social context of judging. Training is delivered through lectures, workshops and conferences and is usually scheduled outside normal court hours to limit disruption to court sittings.

08/01/2026

𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐎𝐢𝐬𝐢́𝐧

An eleven year old boy and his father have been found dead at two separate homes in west Dublin. The child has been named as Oisín O’Reilly, while the man was his father, Wayne O’Reilly, who was in his forties.

Gardaí discovered the man’s body at a house in Cherry Orchard, Ballyfermot, at around 8.30am. In follow up enquiries, the body of the child was found at a separate residence in Clondalkin. Both locations have been sealed off for forensic examination and the Coroner and State Pathologist have been notified.

Sources have indicated that gardaí are not looking for any other suspects and believe the boy died violently. It is understood investigators suspect the child was killed by his father. A previous missing persons incident involving the pair last year is expected to form part of the investigation.

Tusla confirmed that the boy and his family were known to the agency, though the child was not in State care. Tusla said it is engaging with gardaí and expressed sympathy to the family and community.

An Garda Síochána said investigations are ongoing and that post mortem examinations will be arranged in due course.

Local councillor Daithí Doolan described the incident as deeply distressing and said the community was in shock. He appealed for people not to speculate on social media and to allow the family privacy, while urging anyone with relevant information to contact gardaí.

08/01/2026

𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐭 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬. 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐄𝐎’𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲

A report by Eimer McAuley in The Journal reveals that more than one hundred senior social workers in Tusla warned the agency’s CEO that plans to implement major organisation wide reforms within a six week timeframe could place children at significant risk of harm. In a letter sent to CEO Kate Duggan on 11 November, principal social workers said the deadline of 1 January to overhaul Tusla’s structures was unrealistic and dangerous, citing widespread staff vacancies, lack of clarity about new roles, and insufficient time to consult with children, families and foster carers.

The reforms, which came into effect at the start of this year, reorganised Tusla from 17 areas across six regions into 30 areas, a change the agency says is designed to better match staffing to demand. However, senior frontline staff said cases were being transferred mid assessment, that transferring 110 children in care would require around 1,100 hours of work or roughly eight months rather than six weeks, and that pushing ahead regardless would risk harm to children. They also raised concerns that leadership posts and team structures had not been fully defined or filled, and that they had not received timely responses after raising these issues with senior management.

The letter questioned whether courts had been informed that childcare cases could shift regions, and sought clarity on supervision, business supports, training, and responsibility for prevention and family support teams while vacancies remain. While Tusla says it consulted with staff and unions and later allowed a two month transition period for case transfers, it has not disclosed how many children are being reassigned social workers or how many posts are vacant under the new structure. Sources told The Journal that the changes were unplanned and rushed, driven by a desire to show action after a year of high profile tragedies, and warned that in the current climate of serious incidents, missing children and deaths, children were not the true focus of the reform.

06/01/2026

𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚’𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐀𝐝𝐝 𝐔𝐩: 𝐀𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 “𝟏𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐬” 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧. 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲.

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has called on Tusla to publish the number of individual children referred to the agency last year, rather than only reporting the total number of referrals. His request follows a parliamentary reply in which Tusla confirmed it does not currently collect re-referral data in a standardised way and therefore cannot say how many repeat or multiple referrals related to the same children in 2024.

Tusla reported 96,666 referrals last year, involving 51,777 distinct children, but acknowledged that some may also have appeared in previous years. The agency said it is reviewing its data systems as part of a wider improvement programme.

Tóibín accused Tusla of relying on headline referral totals while failing to explain how many cases involve repeated or vexatious reports, arguing that deeper structural problems exist in the agency. He cited high-profile child protection failures and said greater transparency is needed, starting with clearer referral data.

Tusla responded that all referrals about a child are recorded on a single digital record and used to inform assessments. It added that 21 percent of referrals in 2024 concerned children who had been referred again within 12 months of a case being closed, and that new digital tracking systems came into force on January 1 to improve monitoring and reporting.

05/01/2026

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 “𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞”. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 €𝟑𝟔𝐦, 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝’𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬

05/01/2026

€𝟑𝟔𝐦 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

A report by Kitty Holland on the front page of today’s Irish Times highlights that Tusla paid more than €36 million to private companies to house vulnerable children in unregulated placements during the first seven months of last year.

These “special emergency arrangements” (SEAs), often hotel rooms, B&Bs or rented properties, are not inspected by Hiqa and fall outside statutory regulation, raising serious questions about their suitability.

Figures released under Freedom of Information show that five companies received over €25 million for SEAs, with Baig and Mirza Health Service, trading as Kare Plus, earning more than €9.1 million.

The system came under particular scrutiny after the death of 17-year-old Ukrainian boy Vadym Davidenko in an SEA in Donaghmede.

Judges in Dublin District Court have since criticised the continued reliance on unregulated placements and ordered independent reviews in some cases.

By the end of November, 185 children were in SEAs, almost 70 percent of them separated children seeking asylum. Tusla says numbers have started to fall due to the opening of more registered placements.

05/01/2026

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭?

When Pat Rabbitte retired as chair of Tusla, the tributes were predictable. He spoke of “progress” and “complexity”. The agency thanked him for “leadership”. The tone was one of closure.

But for many families whose children passed through Tusla during his seven-year tenure, a different question hangs in the air:

How did the man who presided over repeated system failures walk away without ever being seriously held to account?

Rabbitte chaired the board of an agency in which children died in State care, went missing while known to services, and were left in unsafe placements despite clear warnings. During those same years, Tusla was repeatedly found in contempt of court for failing to comply with High Court orders concerning the care of vulnerable children.

HIQA, the State’s inspectorate, issued report after report documenting serious non-compliance: poor oversight, delayed responses to risk, weak record-keeping and children left in placements that did not meet basic standards. These were not isolated incidents. They formed a pattern.

Yet the narrative from the top rarely changed. The work is complex. The criticism is unfair. The public does not understand.

Complexity, however, does not absolve responsibility. It heightens it.

Rabbitte has argued that there is a “unique tendency” to point fingers when high-profile cases emerge. But those cases, the missing child, the unsafe placement, the preventable tragedy are not random. They are warnings that something deep in the system is broken.

The courts repeatedly intervened because the State could not provide placements it was legally obliged to provide. Children disappeared from education systems unnoticed. Others lived in emergency settings never intended for long-term care. These failings were treated as unfortunate exceptions, rather than symptoms of structural weakness.

A board chair does not run day-to-day social work. But a board chair sets the tone: expectations around transparency, compliance, governance and child safety. When serious failures repeat themselves across regions and years, governance is not a footnote. It is the story.

HIQA flagged the dangers clearly. Tusla acknowledged them repeatedly. But acknowledgment is not accountability. And in Ireland, we too often choose the former while avoiding the latter.

Perhaps most striking is what never happened: there was no sustained media interrogation of Rabbitte’s leadership, no real debate about whether he should have remained in post, no scrutiny of board responsibility for systemic failure. His exit has been framed as a respectful farewell rather than a moment of reckoning.

Tusla’s challenges are undoubtedly real. Social workers are stretched. Courts and other services push impossible pressures onto an already strained agency. But recognising complexity must never become an excuse for the absence of accountability. Leadership cannot only be measured by dedication or loyalty to the institution. It must finally be measured by outcomes for children.

Pat Rabbitte leaves office with warm tributes. Some of the children whose lives intersected with Tusla during his tenure did not live long enough to see his departure. Others carry the consequences of systemic neglect.

The question now is whether the next chair will inherit a culture of reassurance or whether Ireland is finally willing to demand scrutiny at the very top.

If child protection is exempt from accountability, then nothing in public life truly is!

05/01/2026

𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝟗,𝟎𝟎𝟎-𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐊𝐲𝐫𝐚𝐧?

Reports of children missing school have risen sharply, with more than 9,000 referrals made to Tusla in the past academic year. The increase follows the investigation into the disappearance and presumed death of eight-year-old Kyran Durnin, whose absence from school went unnoticed by authorities for two years.

In response, a new Children Missing in Education (CME) team was set up to track pupils who vanish from school systems, using checks across government departments. Between September 2024 and August 2025, Tusla received 9,923 attendance referrals, up 16 percent on the previous year. Court summonses issued to parents also increased.

Chronic absenteeism remains high, with nearly four in ten students missing 20 or more days of school, a pattern that worsened during and after Covid. Schools must now escalate attendance problems to Tusla only after school-based interventions fail, and Tusla has launched an attendance campaign and five-year plan to tackle the issue.

The Kyran Durnin case highlighted gaps in oversight, as no attendance concerns were reported about him before he was reported missing, prompting calls for stronger systems to ensure no child disappears from education unnoticed.

05/01/2026

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 €𝟕𝟐𝐤?

Tusla hired former government press secretary Chris Donoghue’s new consultancy, Mourne Advisory Strategic Services, on a six-month contract worth €72,324 as part of what it called a reform of its communications function. In total, the agency spent more than €101,000 on high-level communications advice last year.

Donoghue, formerly head of government communications and a broadcaster, advised Tusla on improving public affairs, media relations, handling parliamentary questions and building the capacity of its communications team. He said the contract involved around 600 hours of work from March to August 2025, with a final report delivered to the board.

Tusla also paid €29,520 to Communiqué International to help develop a broader communications strategy that included stakeholder consultation.

Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly questioned why Tusla needed two separate communications consultancies and criticised the focus on “strategic political communications,” saying it showed the agency was “not fit for purpose.” He also raised questions about whether Donoghue should have been subject to a 12-month “cooling-off” period under lobbying rules.

Donoghue said he had obtained advice that SIPO clearance was not required for the Tusla work and later secured clearance for his company while developing other business. He stressed he was not involved in lobbying and described his work as media training, crisis communications and planning, carried out with respect for Tusla staff and its challenges.

05/01/2026

𝐃𝐫. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐧’𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐎𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐭𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚’𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞

Debbie McCann reports in the Mail on Sunday that growing numbers of mothers and grandparents are coming forward to describe traumatic experiences in the family courts, where women who raise concerns about abuse are often accused instead of “parental alienation”.

She recounts the case of a mother whose young daughter was removed from her bed under court order and handed to the father the child had alleged was abusive. Despite referrals from doctors, specialist concerns about the child’s safety, and disclosures that had been made to Tusla, the court ruled that maintaining the child’s relationship with her father took precedence. The mother was warned not to seek outside help, and when she approached her GP for advice, she was brought back to court and ultimately lost custody altogether.

Across interviews with lawyers and families, Debbie McCann found this pattern repeating: mothers who report domestic or sexual abuse are frequently told to stay quiet or risk losing their children. A central feature in many of these cases is the controversial concept of “parental alienation”.

UK barrister Dr Charlotte Proudman speaking recently to TDs and Senators in Leinster House, warned that mothers are “almost guaranteed not to be believed” if they allege sexual abuse against a father in the family courts.

Dr. Proudman argued that parental alienation has become a pseudo-scientific tactic used by abusers, flipped to portray violent or abusive fathers as victims while mothers are recast as manipulators. She cautioned that once the alienation label is attached, mothers face a high risk of losing custody, regardless of the evidence they present. Her warning echoed findings from international research and UN reports that describe parental alienation as a discredited idea that is frequently weaponised against women.

Debbie McCann notes that Irish research from University College Dublin shows parental alienation being widely cited in judgments, and Oireachtas members have voiced concern about the harm it is causing. Although legislation has been promised to restrict reliance on such theories, meaningful reform has yet to materialise.

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