Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

For an individual, whether a child or an adult, to be removed from his or her family home and the care of his or her family is a traumatic experience. It is even more traumatic when there is no reasonable or sufficient grounds for doing so. These incidents have been accompanied by a frenzy. However, I am of the view that the authorities probably did act in good faith and we cannot go into a frenzy in the other direction by putting the boot into the authorities. The newspaper commentary that Deputy Ó Ríordáin mentioned is shameful and the journalist who wrote it and the editor who permitted it to be published should be ashamed of themselves. It is a matter that should be investigated by the Press Council.

I ask the Minister why the Ombudsman for Children or the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission will not be conducting an investigation in the first instance. The area of children being taken into care is a dark one in that we have limited information about it. Can the Minister furnish us with statistics on the children taken into care under section 12 of the Child Care 1991? There is merit to holding these cases in camera but perhaps the Minister will consider the matter further because I am concerned that the in camera rule shields the authorities as opposed to protecting the identity of children. That was probably not the intention but the authorities are not open to examination.

Where is the cross-over between the responsibilities of the Ministers for Justice and Equality, Children and Youth Affairs and Health in respect of implementing the Child Care Act?

See this speech in context