REVEALED: Over 1,700 physical and verbal assaults on Tusla staff reported so far this year

So far this year, Tusla have seen a significant increase in the number of physical and verbal assaults towards its staff members, with a total of 1,745 incidents reported between January 1 and September 26.

These latest figures have been gathered under the Freedom of Information Act 2014. 

The report from Tusla breaks down the number of reported physical assaults in Children's Residential Services and the number of other incidents in Children's Residential Services since 2021. Separate from these figures are the number of physical assaults outside of Children's Residential Services and other incidents outside of these services.

The year-on-year breakdown has demonstrated a notable rise in the total number of incidents this year in comparison to the previous four years, even with the figures for 2025 incomplete for the entire twelve months. 

READ NEXT: Irish shoppers warned as SHEIN comes under fire for selling disturbing 'child-like' dolls

Every category of incident types documented by Tusla saw an increase this year, with the exception of physical assaults on staff outside of Children's Residential Services with 17 reported incidents. 

According to the data, 553 physical assaults in Children's Residential Services were reported since January. This was a jump from 462 in 2024. Comparatively, 2021 saw the highest number of such incidents with 803 reported.

A staggering 859 other incidents towards staff, including verbal abuse, in Children's Residential Services were also reported so far this year. This is the highest number of such incidents throughout the five years of data collected. The next highest figure of this type of incident was reported last year with a much lower number of 593. 

The number of other incidents outside of Children's Residential Services this year was also the greatest amount reported throughout the five years, totalling 316. However, it was only a slight increase on last year which saw 313.

In total, 1,745 incidents in and outside of Children's Residential Services have been reported this year so far up to September 26. This is a serious increase from last year which saw the second highest figure of reports reaching 1,411 for the entire year. Out of the five years, 2022 saw the least amount of reported incidents on staff with 887.

When releasing the figures, Tusla admitted that this may not be an entirely accurate collection of data and that the figures could be higher or lower. 

The Child and Family Agency acknowledged: "It wasn't possible to validate all the information and strict search criteria had to be applied. It is possible that some incidents on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) are classified differently, so that some qualifying incidents may have been omitted, while others were included that could have been excluded."

Within their response, Tusla also stated: "The health and safety of our employees and service users is of paramount importance."

They added: "By its nature, our services are involved in very traumatised situations which can often result in violence, harassment and aggression (VHA) related incidents.

"As such, VHA is treated as an utmost priority across the Agency. We have a dedicated health and safety team made up of experienced professionals and have a significant VHA strategy that is supported by the Board and Executive Management team."