Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies and Senators for their questions. Regarding Deputy Ó Caoláin's point and the particular incidents he quoted, I would be happy to organise a meeting between him and the relevant managers in the high-support section of the HSE so that he can be given a briefing on how high-support issues are being dealt with at present. There has been a particular focus on the part of Gordon Jeyes on improving standards and indeed, there have been enormous improvements following the HIQA reports. Obviously, children are not detained as such. It is an open setting so there will be instances of children leaving and becoming vulnerable. However, we try to provide as much specialised input on site as possible. There is a very high staff ratio, as the Deputy knows but having said that, I take his points very seriously.

On the figures for children in care and the number of deaths, I wish to clarify that in 2011, of the 15 child deaths notified to the national review panel, two were of children in State care. In 2012, of the 23 deaths notified to the panel, two were of children in State care. Two children in each of the years were in State care at the time of their deaths. However, as the Deputy knows, the deaths of any children who are known to the HSE or who might be in after care are also reported. Two were in care in 2011 and a further two were in care in 2012. Of the broader group of children whose deaths were notified to the Dr. Helen Buckley and the independent national review panel, three died by suicide in 2011 and nine died by suicide in 2012. While I do not have the precise details before me, I presume some of those deaths involved drug overdoses and issues concerning alcohol and drugs. Clearly, it reflects to some degree the increase in suicide among young people more generally. I do not know if it is statistically higher than the societal average but regardless of that, it is a tragedy to have any child dying, whether in care or outside of care. Clearly, this is an area that needs an ongoing and concentrated focus to ensure that we are protecting the most vulnerable, including young men and young people in care. Clearly many of the young people in care, as the child death review report noted, come from extremely vulnerable backgrounds, where alcohol and drugs are a serious issue and where there have been a lot of family problems. Many of the children came into care at a late age and one of the points to be reiterated, in the context of the new child and family support agency, is the need for early intervention. We must ensure that decisions to take children into care are made at the right time for those children, that proper risk assessment is carried out and the children get the right interventions to prevent the sort of outcomes that are reported in the child death review and by Dr. Helen Buckley.

The Deputy also raised a number of points regarding sexual abuse. Clearly that is a cause of huge concern and I welcome what the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, are doing in terms of the review of files. Obviously, if parents send their children to any educational setting, in the Gaeltacht or elsewhere, they want them to be safe. Some appalling stories have been reported but I wish to await the outcome of the current inquiries before commenting further. All I will say now is that I accept the Deputy's point about the seriousness of the issue.