Professor Pat Dolan:

That is true but the task force met from the previous September so it has been long enough. I am not being critical, just being more pragmatic and factual.

Regarding the phasing of professionals, the argument was that there were some professionals who were obvious and easier to pull in and I assume the rationale is that one deals with those first. However, a concern I expressed in the task force is that one of the problems is tomorrow never comes. We need tomorrow today.

It is now 20 years since the Kilkenny incest report which was published by the then Minister for Health, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin. I recall that momentous day because it was the actual implementation of the Children Act. The very things that were spoken about then are the same things we are talking about now. God be good to the late Judge Hubert Wine and the late Judge John Garavan who spoke about the same issues. We are repeating conversations here. We need to stop this. The only way forward is through one agency, resourced properly and with an adequate amount of funding prevention and early intervention. If we invest in the spring, we will harvest in the autumn. If we keep chasing ourselves, however, and only manage risk, we just have more risk to manage.