Micheal Martin cautions against ‘rush to judgment’ after remains of boy found

The discovery of remains believed to belong to a boy missing for years is “deeply shocking”, Ireland’s premier has said.

On Wednesday, Irish police announced they had uncovered skeletal remains in the search for Daniel Aruebose, who has been missing for several years but would be aged seven.

It comes after a weeks-long search in the Donabate area of Co Dublin after concerns for the boy were raised at the end of August.

The search resulted in the discovery of human skeletal remains on Wednesday, which gardai said they believe belong to Daniel, ahead of formal identification and DNA analysis.

The remains will be the subject of careful exhumation from the burial site.

On Thursday, Taoiseach Micheal Martin told reporters: “It is deeply, deeply shocking and very, very sad that the remains of a young boy have been discovered yesterday.

“The family, the community, and I think wider society, are deeply saddened, particularly when you know the photographs emerged, which put a person and an identity on to what was prior to that – you didn’t realise who the boy was.

“We have to await further investigations by the gardai and by others into the background here to then inform us in terms of how we take this forward.”

He added: “It’s very poignant, very sad to see a young, beautiful child go missing and to die.”

Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships, Mr Martin said the case was a “reflection on wider society and all of us”.

He echoed remarks from his Fianna Fail colleague and Children’s Minister Norma Foley about examining how children are “tracked” in state systems such as education.

He noted challenges with a growing population and more “fluidity in movement” in and out of the country.

“There are issues that we would examine, but I think we have to do it on an evidence-based and informed manner – but it’s very, very sad.”

Asked about Labour’s call for a “root-and-branch” review of Ireland’s child protective services, Mr Martin said he was concerned about a “rush to judgment”.

Ireland’s child and family agency Tusla had interacted with Daniel’s family but closed its engagement with his parents after a temporary fostering arrangement ended.

Mr Martin said: “We need to be very careful about our language. There are many genuine, lots of genuine people working in Tusla, working flat out.

“Carelessly using language and conflating Tusla with what happened here is wrong in advance of finding out what actually happened here.”

Mr Martin said Ireland’s police service An Garda Siochana would continue investigations and added that the Government will conduct a “broader examination” of child services.

“In many of these situations is the intersection of privacy, of family and state engagement.”

He added: “There is an issue around tracking and making sure that we have better systems to understand if a child is moving out of one locality, one parish, one school or whatever, that through our health system and through our education system, that we have a better capacity to follow that.”