State agencies 'are not dealing effectively with sexual exploitation of children in care'

It interviewed staff from 14 key agencies working with vulnerable children and found that trafficking and sexual exploitation of teenagers was a common feature, particularly among children in residential care settings. 

The study's authors now want a risk audit of those residential institutions by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa). They are currently overseen by Tusla, although some are run by private contractors. 

The authors found widespread uncertainty among professionals including Tusla workers and gardaí around what constitutes exploitation and trafficking. They found difficulty identifying sexual exploitation in situations where teenagers believe they were freely consenting to sexual activity including for money and with multiple partners. 

While Tusla introduced staff training in sexual exploitation in October 2022, the report's authors point out that just 10% of the organisation's workforce are in line to receive this training. They recommend that all Tusla staff working in residential centres and all frontline gardaí be trained in how to identify trafficking and sexual exploitation.

The authors say: “It is also recommended that they [the gardaí and Tusla] consider drawing on the specialist knowledge that exists in the UK following the inquiries into the sexual exploitation of children in Rochdale and Rotherham to help inform the development of procedures and safeguards in residential care units here in Ireland that can better protect children and young people in their care from sexual exploitation.” 

The research found:

• Children and young people, and in particular girls, in residential care or who go missing while in State care, are being targeted for sexual exploitation in an organised manner by coordinated networks, or gangs, of predatory men; 
• Hotels across Ireland are being used as locations for the sexual exploitation of children and young people; 
• Some incidents of online sexual exploitation began as sharing self-generated imagery for a small ‘reward’, but in most cases the exploitation escalated to extortion, intimidation or more widespread sharing of images; 
• There are reports of young girls in State care being coerced or enticed to provide sex acts to multiple men in exchange for a variety of goods.

The research included interviews with 21 stakeholders from 14 agencies working with and representing children across sectors including residential care, homelessness, education, social care, advocacy services and policing.

One of the interviewees said: “In the last couple of years we’ve had some really dreadful cases of young people who were … on a daily basis leaving the [residential] unit late in the evening and coming back early the next morning in taxis, sometimes in very poor shape having taken drugs, being picked up at hotels all around the city... That was a bunch of people—I mean, they’re taxiing these kids all over the city. They’re calling them in the evening. They’re bringing them to hotels and all the rest of it.” 

Another interviewee said: “...there was a young girl, she was 16/15, 16 [years old] at the time, and she was being badly exploited by a group of men who would call practically every night of the week... there was just a stream of cars there that she was going — and coming back then ... with new clothes, new jewellery ... this was her payment, bless her, for whatever was happening to her.” 

The report’s authors say the findings suggest a need for the development of a national policy by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth around protecting children from sexual exploitation.

One of the authors, Ruth Breslin, said: “This is another one of those things that people assume does not happen in Ireland.” 

The report also calls for the inclusion of sexual exploitation in the Children First guidelines, as recommended by IHREC in 2022.

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