Children’s ombudsman no longer visiting direct provision centres
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Dr Niall Muldoon
The children’s ombudsman has been forced to suspend visits to direct provision centres due to “insufficient resources”.
Correspondence released to The Irish Times under freedom of information legislation reveals that the ombudsman’s office requested additional funding from the Department of Children, Disability and Equality last year.
In a letter, Dr Niall Muldoon said his office “cannot continue to fulfil our statutory obligations within existing resourcing” and had been forced in July 2023 to “suspend our regular complaints outreach visits to direct provision centres due to lack of resources”.
Dr Muldoon requested a budget of €5.7 million for 2025 and warned that €5.1 million was necessary to continue providing existing services, and was ultimately allocated just over €5 million.
A spokesperson for the Department told The Irish Times that the children’s minister, Norma Foley, had recently met with Dr Muldoon and was committing to working with his office “to ensure it continues making a positive contribution”.
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