The State has offered to pay compensation to the Roma family of a young boy who was wrongly removed from his home in Athlone last year.
An apology has also been issued to the family of two-year-old Iancu Muntean, who was taken from his parents Loredana and Iancu Sr by the HSE for 24 hours last October while the authorities confirmed his identity.
The case followed a similar instance in Tallaght, where a child was also removed and subsequently returned to her family.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, and acting Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan apologised to the two families, after a report by the Children’s Ombudsman found that the removal of the children conformed to the definition of ‘ethnic profiling’.
The report found that physical dissimilarities between parents and their children do not constitute a reasonable basis for suspecting that such children have been abducted.
Deputy Robert Troy is calling on the Justice Minister to act swiftly to implement the recommendations contained in the report.
“This document puts a clear framework in place for interagency co-operation and would alleviate the current inconsistent approach to information sharing, which has led to situations in Tallaght and Athlone,” he said.
