James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware Gleann Alainn is a special care unit for girls, based in Cork. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has advised that a review of the service, following the absence without authority of two children from the unit, was completed in 2012. However, this report was not subject of final checks, including checks on confidentiality and fair procedures, that would allow its wider circulation. Consequently, Tusla has indicated that this report could not be published and it has no plans to do so. I can confirm that the conclusions were not favourable in respect of the culture, leadership and management of the service provided by the unit. While the option of closure was considered following the report in 2012, it was decided to implement an action plan to address the operational and management deficiencies and to ensure that the lessons from the incident were learned.

My predecessor, Minister Flanagan, received a copy of a report titled "Gleann Alainn Special Care Unit: Report of Deep Learning Process (Serious Incident Oct 2011)". The CEO of Tusla commented in a covering letter that those involved with the service accepted that practice at the time of the event fell short of the standards expected of staff and the unit and noted that the subsequent implementation of the action plan had, in the end, proved a valuable learning experience.

Since the implementation of the action plan, the number of significant events recorded at Gleann Alainn has reduced markedly. Monitoring of the unit's progress noted that the staff and management of the unit had enthusiastically addressed ongoing IR issues and attended to a significant number of recommendations for the service provided by the unit. Also, Gleann Alainn was inspected independently by the Health Information and Quality Authority a number of times, most recently in December 2014. The report of this inspection, which is available on the HIQA website, noted that the centre was well managed with national oversight. Staff practice in relation to child protection was good. The inspectors noted that there had been no children absent without authority or missing from care in the previous 12 months. This was attributed to the improved ethos and culture in the unit. The HIQA inspections have provided good evidence, following the implementation of the action plan, that the children are receiving a safe and effective service in the Gleann Alainn special care unit.