The aunt of a teenager who died while in the care of the State is accusing the HSE of treating such children as if they are ‘disposable’.

Danny Talbot died last year of a suspected drugs overdose in Dublin, however his family is still trying to find out exactly what happened to him.

It emerged in recent days that the exact number of children who have died while in State care over the past 10 years is not known – and an independent review set up to investigate the question has yet to receive a single file from the HSE.

Danny Talbot’s aunt Donna Lambe is hitting out at the Health Service Executive for their approach to the young people they are supposed to look after.

“I think the reason (the) HSE are not aware of the amount of children who died, in their eyes they’re marginalised children” she said.

“The Tracey Fay case should be remembered as the first child written into the records of it all”.

“And the HSE can no longer treat children in their care as disposable” she added.