Tusla chief executive Ms Kate Duggan has warned that a levy on the agency’s 2027 budget could increase risks for vulnerable children and families by restricting services during rising demand. The Irish Times reports that officials informed Tusla of its inclusion in May.
The reason is a wider government savings policy. Departments have been instructed to deliver €446 million in efficiencies and reforms in 2027 to offset part of the previous year’s overspending. The Government has promised protection for some spending areas, including infrastructure, social protection and social housing supports.
The Department of Children faces a €42 million levy across its budget. Tusla’s individual contribution is not specified in the reporting.
Ms Duggan disputes the fairness of including the agency, saying it has controlled pay and staffing expenditure and already delivered savings. She described Tusla as being “penalised for overruns in other sectors”. The reporting does not establish that Tusla was selected because of financial mismanagement, or explain why it has not been exempted.
What services are at stake? Tusla’s responsibilities include:
Child protection and welfare, including responses to abuse and neglect.
Foster care, residential care, special care and aftercare.
Family support, early intervention, parenting support and counselling.
Above are examples of Tusla’s services, not a confirmed list of cuts. No specific service closures, staffing reductions or affected locations are identified in the earlier report.
The Department of Children says negotiations aim to achieve savings without cutting Tusla’s services and supports. Ms Duggan’s warning raises a clear question for Budget 2027; how will those protections be delivered while meeting the levy?
Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Mr Jim O’Callaghan has announced the appointment of Enda O’Neill as Chief Inspector of Asylum Border Procedures.
His five-year term began on 11th September 2026 last, following an open competition and a recommendation from Publicjobs.
Mr O’Neill brings a substantial background in law and refugee protection to the position. He headed the Dublin office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 2015 to 2025. A graduate of King’s Inns, he was called to the Bar in 2007, with areas of practice including immigration and international protection law, judicial review, European law and criminal law.
This combination of legal practice and leadership within UNHCR provides a strong foundation for the responsibilities of the new office. His experience in international protection is directly relevant to asylum procedures, while his background in judicial review and European law should support scrutiny of whether those procedures meet the required legal standards. These connections indicate the relevance of his professional background to the role.
The Office of the Chief Inspector of Asylum Border Procedures was established under the International Protection Act 2026, which took effect on June12th. Its remit is to monitor asylum border procedures and compliance with EU and international law, including the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, within designated asylum border facilities.
Mr O’Neill will also oversee the recording and handling of complaints originating at these facilities. The Minister has confirmed that the role includes inspections and the power to conduct formal investigations into potential breaches of fundamental rights. These responsibilities place legal accountability and the protection of people undergoing asylum border procedures at the centre of the new office’s work.
This lovely dwarf pampas grass combines graceful green foliage with soft, creamy-white flower plumes that sway beautifully in the breeze. Its feathery display brings an elegant touch to the garden from late summer into autumn.
Meet Cortaderia ‘Tiny Pampa’.
Growing to around 60cm (23ins) tall, Tiny Pampa is a wonderful choice for that smaller garden, sunny borders and patio containers. Try it in a decorative pot as a focal point, or plant it among flowering perennials for a beautiful contrast of shapes and textures. Give it a sunny position with well-drained soil. Water regularly while it establishes, and keep containers watered during dry spells. Good drainage is especially helpful during our wetter winter months.
Whether you’re refreshing a patio or adding interest to a favourite border, this compact beauty deserves a closer look.
Pop into O’Driscoll’s Garden Centre, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, the home of unusual plants, and meet Tiny Pampa for yourself.
They would be delighted to help you find the perfect spot for it in your garden!
A former member of the White House press corps, Kevin lives in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, with his wife, Caroline. He is the son of Seanie Ryan, formerly of Kennedy Park and Fianna Road, Thurles, a professional soccer referee in America and former drummer with bands ‘Tweed’ and ‘The Kenny Ryder Superband’.
Kevin’s Irish heritage runs through the collection, with many stories set in Ireland or featuring Irish characters. He credits both his family background and his appreciation of Irish literature with influencing his fiction.
Reflecting on the book, he says: “My loftiest goal is to create a piece of art, a spiritual and cultural force that comes to life when it’s read. Sunbather is the closest I’ve gotten.”
The collection emerged from two decades of experimenting with different forms and styles. Some stories appeared in journals that have since closed, while others underwent repeated workshopping and editing.
Among those who helped shape his writing was George Getschow, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and former Wall Street Journal bureau chief, under whom Ryan trained as part of the Archer City writing community.
The selection process was demanding. At least 30 other stories and two abandoned novels did not make the final cut. Ryan spent more than ten years working on individual stories, including “Sunbather”, “Isidro, Our Friend”, “Visitations” and “Marianne”.
“The scenes, the words, the setting, the characters’ voices and mannerisms: They live in my head like a world of their own,” he says.
Through years of revision, Ryan sought to create characters who would stay with readers long after the final page. He also describes the collection as containing some of his funniest and most poetic writing.
“I only ever wanted to be a poet, but verse doesn’t pay the bills,” he says. The road to publication brought numerous rejections, but Ryan now regards those setbacks as valuable.
“I pitched the collection many times, to many different publishers, and thankfully, they all declined. It needed time to grow, and so did I.”
Life experience also brought new material. “Thoughts While Holding The Newborn” followed his becoming a father, while “Expatriations” drew on his years in politically charged journalism.
A journalist, essayist, podcaster and feature writer, Ryan spent nearly a decade at Glenn Beck’s media company. He now writes for Bridget Phetasy’s Dumpster Fire podcast alongside his magazine work and his Substack publication, FREEDRIFT.
His reporting has covered subjects as varied as strongman competitions, experimental hip-hop, quantum mechanics, philosopher Simone Weil, stand-up comedy, the Chili Bowl Nationals and American politics.
Despite concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on creative work, Ryan remains optimistic about literature’s future.
“In fact, I think we’re on the verge of a whole new literary movement, a whole new way to tell stories,” he says. “AI slop be damned, no algorithm could ever dream something as weird and visceral and compassionate as ‘Sunbather’.”
Lyricsand Vocals: American singer-songwriter, actress, and businesswoman, the late great Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean (née Parton)[1946 – 2026].
Late Dolly Rebecca Parton.
Listening to Dolly Parton’s “Daddy Come and Get Me” today, I find myself thinking of Ireland’s unmarried mothers and their children. While, Dolly’s lyrics tell a slightly different story, its plea for someone to come, to listen, to bring a frightened woman home has a painful resonance here. I think of women who needed kindness and support, and instead encountered shame and separation. I think of mothers whose children were taken for adoption, some sent across the sea. I think of the years spent wondering, searching and grieving for someone still alive. Survivor testimony gathered by the Clann Project asks us to face that suffering with honesty.
“Daddy Come and Get Me”
“Daddy Come and Get Me”
In this mental institution, lookin’ out through these iron bars, How could he put me in here, how could he go that far. Yes I need help but not this kind, he didn’t love me from the start, But it’s not my mind that’s broken, it’s my heart. Oh Daddy come and get me and take me home with you. I’m depending on you Daddy, there’s nothing I can do, And you said that I could come to you if I ever was in need, But Daddy I can’t come to you, you’ll have to come to me. When he said he loved another, I was crazy with jealousy, That’s ’cause I was crazy over him and I couldn’t stand to set him free, And I couldn’t stand to lose him and I cried and cried for days, And he said that I was crazy, but he just put me in here to get me out of his way. Daddy come and get me, Oh Daddy come and get me, and take me home with you. I’m depending on you Daddy ’cause there’s nothing else I can do, And you said that I could come to you if I ever was in need, But Daddy I can’t come to you, you’ll have to come to me. Oh Daddy, come and get me.
END.
I think also today, of the children in the protestant orphanage “The Bird’s Nest”, also the children in “St Patrick’s” on the Navan Road, “Madonna House” and “Cottage Home” who were included, indeed used, in vaccine trials. Their participation is well documented; while profound questions about consent still remain. Behind those institutional names were small children, entirely dependent on the adults entrusted with their care. Their documented history deserves to be forever remembered.
There is something especially sorrowful about hearing this song on a Sunday, a day associated with faith, family and belonging, while remembering those who were denied the compassion that should have accompanied their plight.. Church and State had responsibilities towards them. So did the communities around them.
I am deeply sorry for the cruelty they endured, for the protection that failed them, and for every year in which their voices went unheard. No expression of regret can restore a childhood or return the years a mother and child lost together. However remembrance must include listening, granting access to the truth and total accountability.
Today, I share the above song with tenderness towards those mothers, the children they lost, and the adults those children eventually became.
They deserved to be heard. They deserved protection. They deserved to know that they mattered.
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