THE TUSLA PROSECUTION against two residential care centre directors accused of using “falsified” and “altered” background staff checks is the first of its kind, a court has heard.

Criminal proceedings commenced in April against Ideal Care Services and its directors, Karen Akwuobi, of Mount Garrett Rise, Tyrelstown, D15, and Victor Arinze, also known as Victor Illoh, of Beechfield Heights, Clonee, D15.

Yesterday, they were given seven weeks to decide how to plead.

The service provided emergency accommodation for vulnerable children in care.

Tusla, the State’s child and family agency, has brought the prosecution under the Child Care (Standards in Children’s Residential Centres) regulations and the Child Care Act.

In April, the agency’s barrister said “substantial disclosure packs” had already been prepared and handed over to the defence lawyers.

Since then, the court heard that the agency needed an adjournment to provide “further disclosure” to the defendants.

The case continued yesterday when the agency’s solicitor, Arthur Denneny, said this was the first time a court prosecution has been brought under the regulations.

He said Tusla had complied with the disclosure order, and defence counsel Henry Kelly BL sought time to go through the material.

Judge Anthony Halpin described it as a complex matter which, if fully contested, would require two days, and he said the parties would be lucky to get a trial date before Easter.

He adjourned the case until 11 December, when the defendants must enter a plea or have a hearing date set if they deny the allegations.

The defendants are accused of offences on two dates in March 2023 involving care homes in Dublin and Carlow and purported false and misleading documentation being submitted to Tusla.

Outlining the case at their first hearing in April, the agency’s barrister Morgan Shelly said, “They are particularly serious matters”.

“These are a collection of summonses in relation to children’s residential services; they are particularly serious charges, including the submission of altered or false garda vetting and references and various other matters,” he said.

Each defendant faces eight counts under the Child Care (Standards in Children’s Residential Centres) regulations and the Child Care Act.

Mr Shelley had said that while they were summary charges dealt with at the District Court level, convictions can carry custodial sentences.

Mr Arinze and Ms Akwuobi were present when the case was first listed in April and stood up to confirm their attendance when it was called, but they did not address the court. They were not required to attend yesterday.

Ideal Care Services has an address at the Base Enterprise Centre, Ladyswell Road, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15. They have yet to indicate how they will plead.

The case features allegations of “altered” garda vetting for staff, provision of false staff references, and “falsified” reference checks, or whether pre-employment suitability checks were in place.

The prosecution alleges they failed to satisfy the agency that there were appropriate and suitable care practices and operational policies, that there were staff without required overseas police clearances, and that the number, qualifications, and experience of certain staff at the service were adequate.

The charges allege that the care provider accepted historic vetting in place of current Garda staff vetting.