Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in today. It is unusual that the purpose of today's meeting is to scrutinise this appointment because we absolutely lucked out when we got somebody of the quality of Ms Gibbons. She has such a concern and passion for children's welfare, along with Mr. Shannon and the entire team that is being compiled. I wish them every success and we would like to offer any support we can on this committee. I love the fact that Ms Gibbons is impatient. I hope she can see that the questions coming from us demonstrate that we are impatient. I appreciate that until only recently we have had a relatively dysfunctional delivery of services, but at least we have had a good start. We all want to see it perfect by next Tuesday, but of course that will not happen.

When public health nurses came before us a few weeks ago, they expressed public and private concerns that they are not in the first phase. The new director designate, Mr. John Hennessy, also shared their concern that if the agency is only established with the NEWB and the child care people, then unfortunately it may garner the name of an agency that only looks after children who are in crisis. Ms Gibbons obviously knows that the task is not to do that, but to be all-encompassing. What plans does she have to ensure this does not happen in the interim period? How quickly does she envisage all of the other services being added? What is the timeframe for the agency roadmap from the initial stages to becoming something that is robust and can provide all services to children with their best outcomes in mind?