More emergency applications to take children into care were made in Letterkenny last year than in any other town in the country.
Data released by the Child Care Law Reporting Project showed than more than 1,000 applications for childcare applications.
Only the cities of Dublin and Cork, which serve much larger populations, had more emergency applications.
An emergency care order is applied for at the District Court when gardaí and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, believe there is an immediate and serious risk to a child’s health or welfare.
In 2015, according to data collected by the Courts Service and analysed by the project, 26 emergency applications were made at Letterkenny District Court, in Co Donegal.
And overall, the court saw a total of 1,117 applications related to childcare, also more than any other town. These included almost 450 full care order applications, normally made to keep children in the care of the State until adulthood.
Only Dublin and Cork had higher overall numbers of child care applications; 2,003 and 2,472 respectively, and the cities had emergency applications of 82 and 41. They both had fewer full care order applications than Letterkenny, with 128 and 230 respectively.