Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Leader for his response on Friday to my request for a debate on child protection and the second interim report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children. I seek clarification on my request for a second debate on the 420 plus children who remain missing from the care of the Health Service Executive, HSE. I have tabled the matter on the Adjournment on a number of occasions. The latest response from the Minister indicates that there are still 420 children missing from the care of the HSE. One of the missing children was Melissa Mahon, whose body was found last year. She had been missing for 18 months. As Members of the Oireachtas we have a particular responsibility to ensure that every step is taken to find those children. All of them bar three are non-national. Three children are Irish and the remainder are non-national, unaccompanied minors. In other words, from the moment they entered the country, they were in the care of the State. There was nobody to speak up for them. Nobody will contact the Garda to ask what steps have been taken to find them. It is up to us to ensure everything is done to account for each of these children. That would be a fitting legacy to the Ryan report and the other reports on child abuse. It is of utmost importance that we send a message that Ireland is not a soft target for child trafficking. Disturbing accounts are emerging that some of these children have been exploited for the purposes of child labour and the sex trade. We must have a debate on this important issue.