Missing boy's case 'could not have been anticipated'

A review into the case of missing schoolboy Kyran Durnin in the Republic of Ireland has found that what happened to him "could not have been anticipated from knowledge that was available" to Tusla, the state agency responsible for child welfare.

Kyran was reported missing from his home in Drogheda, County Louth, in August 2024.

The last known images of him were taken in June 2022, when he was six years old.

Gardaí (Irish police) began a murder investigation in October, saying they were treating Kyran as missing, presumed dead.

The National Review Panel (NRP) conducts reviews of instances where children in care, in aftercare or known to child protection services, die or experience serious incidents.

The head of the NRP, Dr Helen Buckley, said the "the over-arching conclusion" of its review of Kyran's case was that "the serious incident which elicited it could not have been anticipated from knowledge that was available to the Tusla social work department at the time".

She also noted that while the review identified "practice and policy weaknesses", it did not "infer a direct or causal link between them and the outcome for Kyran".

Among the recommendations of the review are tracking pupil movement between primary schools, including on a cross-border basis, a review of GDPR and guidance to social workers.

It also includes a review of the Tusla/gardaí protocol.

Tusla chief executive Kate Duggan said it was "critical" that the agency review its "interactions with the child, family, and other services" and "seek an independent evaluation of that engagement" from the NRP.

She said her commitment as chief executive was "full transparency and meaningful reform so that we can, as an agency and in collaboration with other stakeholders, ensure we are doing all we can to safeguard and protect children".

Despite extensive and ongoing enquiries, police have been unable to locate Kyran or determine what happened to him.

Gardaí have said there have been more than 570 separate investigative actions taken, two arrests of a man and a woman on suspicion of murder, three domestic residences and adjoining lands searched, and more than 29,500 hours of CCTV reviewed.

The minister for children, disability and equality, Norma Foley, said that the legal advice was that it was not possible to publish the full report "given the potential to prejudice any potential prosecutions".

However, she said she could publish a series of recommendations from the review.

She said that it was a "heartbreaking case".

The minister received Cabinet approval this week to publish the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2025, which would put the NRP on a statutory footing.

Doing this will give the body extra powers, including powers to compel people or agencies to give evidence or provide information, and also the power to publish its own reports.

Among the key elements of the bill is a "duty to cooperate" between relevant bodies, like Tusla, government departments and others.

• 2021 - 2022 - Kyran was a pupil at a national [primary] school near his home in Dundalk, but he did not return to the school after the 2022 summer holidays
• May 2024 - Kyran's family moved out of their home in Emer Terrace in Dundalk, where they had been living for a number of years
• Unknown date in August 2024 - Tusla, the Irish state agency responsible for child protection, alerted gardaí about "a significant concern about Kyran"
• 28 August 2024 - The approximate date of the last sighting of the boy and his mother in Drogheda, according to a missing person report made to gardaí.
• 30 August 2024 - Kyran and his 24-year-old mother Dayla Durnin were reported missing from their home in Drogheda
• 4 September 2024 - Gardaí issued a public missing persons appeal, seeking help to find Dayla and Kyran
• 16 October 2024 - Gardaí said they now believed that "Kyran is missing, presumed dead" and they confirmed they have begun a murder inquiry
• 21 October 2024 - Acting under a search warrant, gardaí take possession of the Durnins' former family home in Emer Terrace, Dundalk
• 22 October 2024 - a forensic examination of the house, garden and nearby open ground began