Professor Pat Dolan:

No. With the agency coming on board, a different kind of real culture for child services should exist where they are put first. There is much rhetoric about this but in reality it is what affects children's lives. As Deputy Naughten highlighted, what affects a child who does not have a breakfast in the morning? Whether one is a former worker in the field, like me who is now an academic and who I hope lives in the real world, a psychologist, a child psychiatrist, a teacher, social worker or youth worker, there is an absolute requirement that one plays one's part with other people in the interests of the child. Unless the agency has all the professionals together, it simply will not happen. It will just be moving deckchairs around for the sake of it. There is no point in being ambivalent about this. It must happen.

For example, in child and adolescent psychiatry there is an issue about the gap between 16 and 18 and who has medical responsibility, which can go as far as medical defence unions. The bottom line, however, is that children do not live in unions or professional spheres. The only way the proposed agency will work is on the basis of people working under the agency as one team with full accountability and transparency. I know the professionals have their concerns but the objective and the gain is far larger through this agency. The same mistakes made here were made in other countries, such as in the baby Peter Connelly case in the UK.

My role on the task force was to pull together the framework and design for the new agency. That was finished swiftly in July on the promise we would have legislation swiftly as well. One slight concern I have is that we are in limbo, which is not a good state of affairs. In fairness to Gordon Jeyes and everyone involved, this is not a good position in which to be.