LIMERICK had the fifth largest number of court applications in the state for orders relating to child welfare and children at risk.
And more than one-third of the parents who were called to court were singe women and only 20 per cent had legal representation, according to the Child Care Law Reporting Project (CCLRP).
The report is based on data from almost 1,200 child protection cases, mainly in the District Court over the past three years as well as from more than 300 cases published on the www.childlawproject.ie website
In Limerick, 35 or 7 per cent of the parents brought to court were single women while 13 of the cases heard involved children with special needs
69 per cent of the parents and children involved in the court cases were Irish and the Limerick District Court granted supervision orders in 7.1 per cent of cases and emergency care orders in 2.4 per cent of the cases.
Full care orders were granted in 14.3 per cent of the Limerick cases while extensions of care orders or other orders were granted in the remainder of the cases.
Nationally, the figures show that in one seventh of the cases, the parent suffered from an intellectual disability or mental illness. In 20 per cent, there was serious drug or alcohol abuse. Neglect was the most common issue to arise, and was often accompanied by the parent having problems themselves.
In 10 per cent of cases there were allegations of physical or emotional abuse, and in four per cent child sex abuse was alleged. Thirty per cent of the children had psychological, educational or physical special needs.
