Children First Act 2015

The organisations with responsibility for child protection and welfare are:

• Tusla

• An Garda Síochána

If you think a child is in immediate danger you should contact An Garda Síochána. You can find details for individual Garda stations here.

If you have concerns about a child's safety or welfare, you should contact the Tusla local social work duty service in the area where the child lives. You can find contact details for local social work services here.

As outlined above, statutory responsibility for child protection rests with Tusla and An Garda Síochána. If a concern regarding the safety and welfare of a child is brought to the attention of the Department of the Taoiseach, we are obliged to refer this information to Tusla, or An Garda Síochána, or both.

The Department has no role in the assessment or investigation of any child protection concerns. However, the welfare of children is paramount and the Department have a duty to ensure any concerns or allegations are referred to Tusla or An Garda Síochána. We will refer any concerns or allegations in their entirety and without judgement.

The Children First Act 2015 was enacted on 19th November 2015 and was fully commenced on 11 December 2017.

The Act places additional obligations on providers of certain services to children.

As required by Section 27 of the Act, the Department has prepared a sectoral implementation plan and this is available to download here:

While the Department has very limited direct interaction with children under 18 years of age, in order to ensure we meet our obligations under the Act and under Children First Guidelines generally, we have also developed a Child Safeguarding Statement which can be downloaded here:

The Department has also prepared a Children First Reporting Protocol in accordance with Section 27 of the Children’s First Act 2015, which can be downloaded here:

The Protocol outlines the procedures to ensure that the Department complies with the provisions of the Children First Act 2015, and the guidance issued under Section 6 of that Act.

This Protocol should be read in association with the Department’s Child Safeguarding Statement. This is a live document and will be updated in line with changes to the Children First Act 2015 and Guidance.