33
Maria Delaney and Patricia Devlin are nominated for the Justice Media Awards Shortlist 2025 as part of the Lost in Europe Team.
The Journal Investigates analysed Tusla data which revealed that within a 15-month period, 607 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were referred to Ireland's Separated Children Seeking International Protection (SCSIP) service.
This was a 500% increase in the number of children arriving alone to claim asylum in Ireland. For the Lost in Europe article, Patricia and Maria built upon a previous investigation carried out in November 2023, in which they revealed that 62 boys and girls disappeared from State care after arriving in Ireland.
Of the dozens of separated migrant minors who have vanished from Tusla (State) accommodation since 2017, 44 were no longer being searched for by the child welfare agency – because they reached their 18th birthday while missing.
Through Freedom of Information requests, press queries and in-depth research of An Garda Síochána's (Irish police) missing children database, they found that, in many of these cases, no public appeals for the missing children were made by Gardaí.
This investigation directly led to then Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman announcing a review into Gardaí's missing children operation.
They combined the research with Lost in Europe's overall findings, which revealed that 51,433 children have disappeared after arriving in European countries between 2021 and 2023, to reveal the extent of the problem in Ireland.
Maria and Patricia spoke to both international and local organisations about the figures, including Dublin based MECPATHS, a non-profit group raising awareness of child trafficking and exploitation in Ireland. The group described the figures "alarming" and called on the Irish government to do more to protect children seeking international protection in Ireland.
Help us create impact by sharing.
Share
