Abused children placed in care – but only after harrowing reports

Most of the children were placed in a Tusla care home, hundreds of miles away from the town where they were living, while the youngest child, a little girl, was placed with a ‘loving’ foster family.

The developments came after the authorities were ‘kicked into action’ following a special Extra.ie report, which told how the children living in the house were beaten, locked in bedrooms, starved and forced to go to the toilet in mop buckets.

One brave young woman who lived in the house until she was 17 told Extra.ie how she survived years of horrendous beatings and psychological abuse.

Another woman who lived in the house as a child told how her stepfather poured boiling water on her and killed puppies with a hammer while she pleaded with him to stop.

Other witnesses said the children who were still living in the house were "feral", wreaking havoc on their neighbours and displaying sexualised behaviour. Extra.ie has now learned that Tusla has finally intervened to remove the children in recent weeks, with witnesses crediting our report for prompting the State to take action.

A criminal investigation is also ongoing into the behaviour of the parents, with a file being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecution. "The team [of social workers] put on the case was absolutely amazing. They put their all into it to make sure nothing was missed with the kids.

"The older children were placed in a care home in the north of the country. Their behaviour was too disturbed to put them with a foster family.

"The youngest child, a little girl, was placed in a foster home nearer by. Hopefully, she stands a chance at a normal life now. It’s such a relief the kids are safe."

Another witness told how the parents in the case have "no cash cows any more" (referring to the children’s allowance they had been receiving) and added, "In a way it’s a little bit scary because they now have nothing to lose".

The disturbing case was outlined to Extra.ie in July 2023 by numerous witnesses, including the family members who suffered years of horrific abuse.

One woman said a 10-year-old boy in the house, in the southeast of the country, threatened to rape her eight-year-old daughter as he followed her around with his "hands down his pants".

Another woman described how the same boy had threatened to drag her nine-year-old daughter into the bushes and "show her what he was going to do to her".

One local told Extra.ie: "These kids are threatening to chop up our children, throw them in the river in bags, rape them, sexually assault them.

"They are luring children down to the river where they are beaten. I mean, kids don’t act like that unless there is something very wrong going on at home."

Several witnesses we spoke to confirmed they had contacted local school authorities and Tusla, the State child and family agency, several times about the family but that nothing had been done at that time.

Gardaí had also been called to deal with the "out-of-control" behaviour by the children.

Neighbours reported how they could not allow their children out to play because of the family’s behaviour. The local school also had to move children around classes in an attempt to prevent more incidents flaring up.

Businesses described how they were at their "wits’ end" because of the children’s behaviour. One woman said she could ‘deal with drunks, but cannot handle the constant bad behaviour of these children’.

Extra.ie reported how social workers from Tusla visited the house numerous times, but witnesses described the parents as "very clever who know how to play the system".

The family had been living in the small housing estate for two decades before the recent intervention from the State.

One young woman who suffered years of abuse and neglect described the home as "a house of horrors".

The children are now aged from 11 years to their mid-teens.

 In response to detailed queries from Extra.ie about the family at the time and the large number of reports it has received about the children’s worrying behaviour, Tusla would only say it could not comment on individual cases.

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.