Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste raised the issue of ineptitude. I will give him an example of it. Retired Mr. Justice Simms wrote to the Minister, Deputy Roderick O’Gorman, and stated he had “utmost concern” with the predicament of children in State care. He attached four anonymised reports, with permission to share them. He gave them to the Minister, who deleted three of them, with the excuse that there were GDPR issues. A judge stuck his neck out to bring change to this space and the bureaucratic response of the State was to delete the reports. I have learned that the Department actually reported Mr. Justice Simms to his seniors for doing so.

The Tánaiste mentioned issues that arose before. There is nothing happening today that did not happen before but all the information shows that what is happening is happening to a far greater level now. Enormous damage is being done to children in State care. The State has serious responsibilities. High-dependency units and residential beds for the children are being closed down and staff are leaving because of burnout. This has happened because the Government is not focusing resources or prioritising the issue.

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