Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In previous debates I have welcomed the establishment of the agency and complimented the Minister, who, in a short period, has been very innovative and committed to the subject we are discussing - that is, the welfare and protection of children. In one respect it is regrettable that our society needs such an agency. It is a reflection of some bad things in our society, of which I am a part. As in many other areas, perhaps we have deluded ourselves as a society about some difficult things that have taken place in our short history.

I concur with everything that the people to my right and left have said about the role of the State in terms of caring for children. I accept all of it. However, I wish to make one point and ask Ms Gibbons one question. The role of the State is one thing, but I had a telephone conversation with one of the unfortunate woman who was in the Magdalen laundries. She now lives in County Cork. She wrote to me on the basis of a comment I had made in the Dáil. We had a good conversation and she made one particularly interesting point. We were discussing the role of the church and State in respect of the bad treatment these women received. She was very polite but she stopped me at one stage, and rightly so, to say to me that it was not only the church and State but it was society too. We were all to blame.

I almost dropped the phone, but she was quite right.

The figures do not make for very pleasant reading. For example, the figures for 2012 from the ISPCC show there were 750,000 calls to its very good helpline, Childline. We have a real problem if such large numbers of children are telephoning a charity for help. Whatever about the role of the State - I am in favour of providing the best of services - we will eventually have to face the fact that there is something wrong with adults who, in such large numbers, treat children so badly.