RTE Investigates last night synopsis particular emphasis guardian ad litems, children in SEA’s like hotel rooms; costs to the State especially figure of euros 14,000 per week. Young girls being raped.

Thought for 41s

RTÉ Investigates aired a documentary last night (22 April 2026) titled Children in care: one year following a system in crisis (also referred to as Inside the Care System). It is based on a year-long investigation inside the family law courts and the child protection system run by Tusla (the Child and Family Agency). The programme exposes a deepening crisis affecting around 5,900 children in state care, driven by severe shortages of foster and regulated residential places.

rte.ie The core issue is the heavy and growing reliance on Special Emergency Arrangements (SEAs) — unregulated, unregistered, privately-run placements in rented houses, apartments, B&Bs and hotel rooms. These are meant to be short-term but are often used for extended periods for some of the most vulnerable children. Over 1,100 children were placed in SEAs last year.

rte.ieParticular emphasis on Guardian ad Litems (GALs). Guardian ad Litems (court-appointed independent professionals, many from Barnardos) represent the voice of the child in care proceedings. The documentary features several GALs who are highly critical of the system. They describe SEAs as not constituting proper “care” and warn that the placements expose children to serious, lifelong harm.

• Karen Rogers (GAL for a boy named Malak) successfully fought in court to move him out of SEAs into a regulated placement after he suffered instability (including a four-hour daily school commute). She said: “This is a solution that’s organised and set up, but it’s not care. I hate calling it part of the care system.” rte.ie
• Freda McKittrick (head of Barnardos’ Guardian ad Litem service) repeatedly highlighted the risks: “We are exposing children to a level of risk which can cause them lasting damage.” On cases of sexual exploitation she added: “It’s horrific… I know from a career of working with both young people and adults who have been through sexual abuse that leaves its mark. It affects the rest of their lives.” rte.ie

GALs are shown actively challenging Tusla in court and advocating for the phasing out of SEAs.Children in SEAs (including hotel rooms)The programme includes direct testimony from young people who lived in these placements:

• Aaron entered care at age 9 and was moved through 20 different settings, many of them SEAs in hotel rooms. He spent a full year in hotels: “I was living in hotels for a whole year, I was getting junk food… It was lonely and depressing, going from one hotel room to the next.” His grandmother described him sitting alone all day with a PlayStation, eating takeaway in a small room. rte.ie
• Other young people spoke of feeling like “an Amazon parcel,” constant moves across counties, loss of belongings and memories, isolation, and being unable to form bonds or attend school consistently. Several described the placements as chaotic and frightening. rte.ie

SEAs are not subject to HIQA inspection or the same standards as regulated children’s homes.Costs to the State — especially the €14,000-per-week figureThe programme highlights the enormous financial cost. Tusla CEO Kate Duggan confirmed that SEAs cost an average of €750,000 per child per year — that works out at roughly €14,423 per week per child. This is dramatically higher than the €420 weekly fostering allowance. Child protection solicitor Gareth Noble called it “huge money… totally and utterly unacceptable.”

rte.ie Young girls being raped / sexually assaulted. The documentary details harrowing cases of sexual exploitation, including that of a teenage girl placed in an SEA. Within weeks she went missing 12 times, associated with middle-aged men, allegedly set fire to her placement, and was reported to have been sexually assaulted by a number of men while missing from the SEA. Despite the extreme risks, she remained in the same type of unregulated placement because no suitable alternative beds were available. GAL Freda McKittrick described the outcome as “horrific.”

rte.ie Tusla told the programme it is “acutely aware of risks with the exploitation of vulnerable young people” and has a Child Sexual Exploitation Procedure in place, but the GALs and the young people featured argue the system is failing to protect children adequately.Other issues raised. The investigation also references forged staff references at one major SEA provider (Kare Plus / Baig & Mirza Health Services) and broader governance failures. Retired Judge Dermot Simms stated that children in SEAs “are being failed by the State.”Tusla’s response in the programme acknowledged that the experiences described “are not acceptable” and that the agency is under pressure, but it is working to increase capacity and reduce reliance on SEAs.

rte.ie Overall the documentary paints a picture of a care system in crisis that is outsourcing its most vulnerable children into unsuitable, high-risk, high-cost emergency placements — a situation that multiple Guardian ad Litems say must end.

1 web page

Explain GAL role in detail

Tusla reform proposals

Is there a foreign company involved (fraud perhaps) involved in SEA’s

Thought for 39s

No, there is no evidence of a foreign-registered company directly operating SEAs or involved in the fraud highlighted in the RTÉ Investigates documentary. The provider at the centre of the forged references scandal is an Irish-registered company.The company in question Baig & Mirza Health Services Ltd (trading as Kare Plus Dublin South) is Ireland’s biggest SEA provider. It is a private limited company (Company No. 671565) incorporated in Ireland on 3 June 2020, with its registered address in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin. It has received approximately €47 million from Tusla over the past three years for running unregulated SEAs.

rte.ie

• It operates under a franchise agreement with Kare Plus Ireland (a separate Irish entity founded in 2018). The Kare Plus brand itself originated as a UK healthcare franchise, but the Irish operations (both the franchisor and this franchisee) are Irish companies. rte.ie
• Its largest shareholder is Baig and Mirza Gulf Holdings Limited (another Irish-registered company). The “Gulf” name in the holding company suggests possible Middle East/Gulf region connections or ownership ties, but the operating entity providing SEAs is fully Irish-registered and Irish-based. solocheck.ie
• The company is owned by Muhammad Usman Baig and Farhan Mirza (Irish company filings and media reports confirm Irish incorporation and operation).

The fraud / forged referencesYes — there was employee fraud involving forged staff references, as detailed in the documentary and an internal Tusla report obtained by RTÉ:

• Forged employment references (including the use of a fake company stamp) were submitted to Tusla’s Central Compliance Unit for staff working in SEAs.
• The forgeries were linked to a suspended employee of Kare Plus Dublin South and appear to have been used for workers at another (unrelated) SEA provider.
• An internal report titled “Internal Report: Discovery and Investigation of Employee Fraud” described it as “a serious employee fraud which involves collusion, forgery, misusing and compromising company’s staff sensitive and confidential information.”
• The company (via then-CEO Farhan Mirza) reported the issue to Tusla in April 2025, stating it took the matter “very seriously” and that any unauthorised references should be deemed invalid. It later told RTÉ the forgeries were the work of “former rogue employees” acting without the knowledge or authority of the company or its directors. The falsified documents were submitted to Tusla by a completely separate and unrelated company.
• There is an ongoing Garda investigation into the matter. rte.ie

Tusla has confirmed the provider reported the issue to Gardaí and has referred queries back to the company.Summary

• No foreign company is running SEAs or implicated in the fraud in the RTÉ investigation. The provider is Irish-registered and Irish-operated, albeit under a UK-originated franchise brand and with a parent shareholder whose name hints at possible international (Gulf) ownership links.
• The fraud itself was internal employee fraud (forged references), not company-directed, according to the provider’s statements. It has been reported to the authorities and is under investigation.

This fits into the broader RTÉ exposé on the high-cost, unregulated nature of SEAs, but the “foreign company” angle does not appear to apply here. If new details emerge from the Garda investigation, that could change, but based on all publicly available information from the documentary and related reporting, the company is domestic.

2 web pages

Details on Garda investigation

Other SEA providers Ireland