A 34-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to two charges of child cruelty in Galway in what a court has heard is as a “tragic and complex case”.

The case was listed for trial at Galway Circuit Court last week, but the court was told a jury would not be required.

Prosecuting counsel, Conall MacCarthy BL, said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was accepting guilty pleas to two counts on the indictment.

Counsel said this was being done on the basis that at the sentencing hearing, the victim impact statement will be advanced by a person referred to in another count.

The woman pleaded guilty to two counts contrary to Section 246 of the Children’s Act.

The counts say that on dates between November 2, 2019 and a date in 2020, being a person who had custody, charge or care of a child, the woman did wilfully assault, ill treat, neglect a child in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to the child’s health or seriously affect their wellbeing.

The victims in the case are a boy and a girl and the offences were committed at a property in County Galway.

A defence barrister asked the court to direct a report from the probation services, saying it would be of “immense benefit”.

“It is a rather tragic and complex case,” counsel said, adding his client has no previous convictions and is currently on a number of medications.

He asked that the legal aid certificate be extended to allow for urine analysis and said there was a suggestion in the book of evidence of drug use. Judge Brian O’Callaghan granted the application for a probation report and adjourned sentencing to May 29, 2024.