'No referrals' over Kyran Durnin's school attendance

Kyran Durnin was reported missing in August

Tusla, the Irish state agency responsible for child welfare and protection, has said it received no referrals or concern about Kyran Durnin's attendance or educational welfare between 2022 and 2024.

Kyran was reported missing at the end of August, but last month gardaí (Irish police) said the boy is now "presumed dead" and launched a murder investigation.

Detectives believe the missing child may have been killed more than two years ago, when he was aged six.

Tusla's Chief Executive Kate Duggan said one of the agency's family resource services had their last engagement with Kyran and his family in 2022.

Over the 2021/2022 school year, Ms Duggan said "significant efforts" would have been made by child welfare services to provide further supports to both Kyran and his family.

Speaking to Irish broadcaster RTÉ's This Week programme, Ms Duggan confirmed during this time Tusla did not receive "referrals of concern either through our child protection welfare services or our educational support services".

"We also know that May 2022 was the last time that Kyran was present in school within junior infants in his local school," she added.

No new information or referrals of concern had been made about Kyran to the agency between 2022 and 2024, Ms Duggan confirmed.

Concerns raised

Earlier this year, when Tusla was engaging with another case, staff became aware of information that "caused concern to us in relation to Kyran's whereabouts", Ms Duggan told the programme.

"At that point then, we would have linked with An Garda Síochána [Irish police] with that information."

Ms Duggan said Tusla has only had engagement with the family since April 2024 when the new information was made available.

Last week, Tusla announced an internal review of its interactions with Kyran's family would not be made public at this time.

Ms Duggan said this decision was taken after consultation with gardaí.

"When our review is published, obviously there will be reference to any engagement that we had with Kyran, with his family or with other members of his family," she added.

"But at the moment, I can't confirm the details around that because of the live garda investigation."

Timeline of Kyran's disppearance

• 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

• 24 October 2024 - searches of the house and nearby grounds end, with gardaí adding that the results of the search were not being released for operational purposes

• 31 October 2024 - Tusla announce its internal review of its interactions with Kyran's family will not be made public and that information held by the agency on the missing boy was lost in a cyber attack