Five children have "gone missing" while in childcare so far in 2019.
Child family agency, Tusla, has revealed a 35% increase in the amount of children who have been seriously injured while in childcare in the past year.
According to details released under the Freedom of Information, as of June 19, 116 children had been seriously injured while attending pre-school services this year.
This compares to 86 serious injuries reported in 2018 in the same time period.
Newstalk reported that the agency was also notified of the deaths of two children attending Early Years Services in 2019.
Additionally, five children are reported to have gone missing while under the watch of childcare services.
Tusla has been notified of 116 children being seriously injured in childcare services this year, along with five children going missing and two deaths - one in a childcare centre and one after being transferred to hospital. Breakdown of details below, released under FoI. pic.twitter.com/nKQ7KgNiGO
— Eoghan Murphy (@eoghanymurphy) August 19, 2019
Barnardos CEO Suzanne Connolly told Newstalk the stats are a major concern:
"The sort of times that a child may go missing, if staff aren’t paying due attention, is at transition times," she said.
"So say, for example, when it is very busy in the morning and all of the parents are dropping their children off. If staff are not paying attention, with parents, a child may well wander off."
Tusla stated that a child can only go missing in care if there has been a serious breach of regulations, with cases ranging from a child 'missing' from a room in a service, to being left behind on a trip - but said it cannot report on specific cases.
