Big regional differences have been found in the number of children being taken from their families into State care in different parts of the country, according to new figures.

For example, the report states that there were almost 230 childcare applications in Letterkenny during 2012 compared with 10 in Carlow and nine in Tullamore.

Other substantial towns with very few applications were Longford (31), Mullingar (38) and Portlaoise (22).

The figures are contained in the latest volume of reports to be issued by the Child Care Law Reporting Project.

The director of the project, Dr Carol Coulter, suggested that one explanation could be that voluntary care orders as distinct from orders taking children from families compulsorily are sought by social services in areas such as the midlands.

The figures also show that there has been a 15pc rise in the number of childcare applications in the District Court between 2011 and 2012, rising from just over 8,100 to about 9,300, the Irish Times reports.

However, the report notes that these figures do not represent the number of individual children taken into care, as many are repeat applications involving the same child, and says that the numbers should be treated with caution.

Meanwhile, the project also reports that social services, as well as the Gardai, objected to a blonde-haired Roma girl being returned to her family due to concerns over her real identity and because they feared she was a “flight risk”.

A social worker with the HSE said authorities had a responsibility to act on foot of the Garda report and agreed with the Garda that there was a flight risk.

The fair-haired, blue-eyed seven year old was later returned to her family after DNA tests proved she was biologically related to her parents.

The child law report contains new details heard in court regarding the handling of the case by both gardaí and social services.

It states that concerns over the child’s identity were first made to gardaí by an Estonian woman, who reported that a local Roma family had a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

A garda told the District Court that after making inquiries at the girl’s home, the child appeared to be registered under two different names in official documents.

Further inquiries at Dublin’s Coombe hospital – where her parents said she was born – did not yield a record of her birth, though later checks showed they did, in fact, have a record.

The garda told the court he also spoke to a consultant at a children’s hospital who said it would be “highly unlikely” that a child of Roma ethnicity would have blond hair and blue eyes.

The garda added that he believed she was a flight risk given that children in the Roma community often lived apart from their parents.

The child was taken into foster care by gardaí using emergency powers available under the Child Care Act and. A total of nine gardaí were involved in the operation.

The report also states that the child’s parents were prepared to have a DNA test carried out on their daughter and had offered the chid’s passport, on the basis that she not be taken away from the family.

The social worker confirmed there had been child welfare concerns regarding other children in the family in the past which had been resolved, however, these were separate issues.

The parents’ barrister said the way the case had been handled were signs of a “draconian jurisdiction” where a phone call could lead to a child being removed from her parents.

“When you analyse the evidence of the case, it comes down to the claim she doesn’t look like the rest of the family and she can’t return home because Roma are mobile and the Garda doesn’t believe the parents can be trusted,” the parents’ barrister said.