Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Gibbons and thank her for her good presentation. I liked the fact that she did not use soundbites and demonstrated that she has a great understanding of children. She said she was not going to pay lip service, that her curriculum vitae clearly showed her experience and that she wants to hear children's voices. As she said, for too long children's voices were not evident in case studies or social workers' reports. Too often the Departments responsible for education and health and the health boards passed the buck and no one took responsibility. That is why I welcome the child and family agency, and I am glad it is nearly set up.

Last week I listened to some of my colleagues here asking about the agency's vision.

Will Ms Gibbons tell us a little more about the agency? What exactly is her vision? I heard the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, say that when she became Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, she did not have evidence, proper figures or proper information. Does Ms Gibbons believe she has that information and that she can target resources to help children?

I talked about paying lip service, which was very evident in the referendum on children. There was a turnout of only approximately 30%. We talk about children and we respond if we see a programme about neglect of children, bullying or whatever, yet when a referendum was put to the people we did not come out to vote. How will Ms Gibbons get the message out to the public that the voices of children need to be heard and that we need to respond not only when there is a crisis but to all of the 1.1 million or so children in this country?