Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 26:

In page 18, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following subsection:
“(5) The Board shall always include three individuals with experience or knowledge of the legal environment as it pertains to children and families; the disciplines of child protection, psychology, family support and therapeutic services.”.

We seek to include a new subsection to section 19, namely, subsection (5). The subsequent subsections would all have to be renumbered. It would read: “The Board shall always include three individuals with experience or knowledge of the legal environment as it pertains to children and families; the disciplines of child protection, psychology, family support and therapeutic services.”

It is important that the make-up of the board does indeed reflect these areas of expertise. The requirement is that the individuals have experience or knowledge of the legal environment as it pertains. That does not mean that they must be legally qualified or have been legal practitioners but that they have experience of the legal environment or a knowledge of the legislation as it pertains to children and families. We specify the disciplines of child protection, psychology, family support and therapeutic services.

In this particular instance I wish to place my view again on the record. My understanding is that the Minister may indeed have sought to ensure that there is knowledge or expertise among the cohort of people who have given years of service through the family resource centre network. I do not know whether the Minister has progressed the appointment of the entire board at this point but I acknowledge that she has made efforts in that regard. They might not all have been successful but I wonder whether she continues to pursue someone with experience or knowledge in the area of family support. I am specifically concerned with the family resource centre network where there is huge experience and knowledge and wherein there remains significant concern regarding the dropping of the reference to support in the title of the new agency. It is just a fact of life; the dropping of the word “support” from the originally intended name of the new agency, which was the child and family support agency. I still hear concern expressed time and again at the loss of the reference to “support” in the title of the new agency. I have endeavoured as best I can, through my understanding and the Minister's assurance, to ensure that we are not losing that intent.

I again commend to the Minister the employment of all effort to secure someone to serve on the board with the necessary knowledge and experience. I know she is not seeking to have people who are representative only of particular areas of interest but there is an experience and knowledge in the area of family support which incorporates so much else in terms of child protection, psychology and therapeutic services within the ambit of the entire network and it would be tragic if we were to lose that critical input. I commend the amendment to the Minister. I would appreciate if she would elaborate a little on the areas to which I referred.