Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage

5:10 pm

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

I am very pleased to bring the Bill before the sub-committee. I pay tribute to the staff in my Department and the officials who have worked so hard on this legislation. I pay tribute also to the Deputies with responsibility in this area, including Deputies Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and Robert Troy, in particular, and the NGOs, the ISPCC, Barnardos, the CRA and many other bodies that have taken an interest in and which are very committed to what we are trying to do in the Bill, that is, establish the new Child and Family Agency.

My officials have approached the Bill in a collaborative fashion. Many of the amendments I will introduce will provide clarification that was sought on matters highlighted by a variety of people. They will bring the clarity people were looking for in a number of areas. I look forward to the discussion.

Let me summarise a number of points that we have discussed before. As members know, the Government is undertaking wide-ranging reform of children's services and the Bill forms a very significant part of that reform. The reform will continue long after the establishment of the Child and Family Agency. The Bill seeks to provide the organisational context, leadership focus and accountability mechanism within which improvements can be achieved. The reforms we are undertaking are systematic. The creation of an agency with dedicated responsibility for the services will ensure the changes introduced are championed, sustained and capable of being built upon. I do not need to repeat why there was an impetus for reform of children's services because there is a long history in this regard. We believe in bringing a dedicated management system into play from the front line to the national management team, led by Mr. Gordon Jeyes. The responsibilities of all personnel are exclusively focused on children and family services for the first time. That is very important. These services or arrangements are supported by a dedicated budget, segregated for the first time from the HSE Estimate. Common processes and information recording are being implemented around the country to ensure consistency and service provision. With Dr. Helen Buckley in place, we have an independent review system for serious incidents, leading to the publication of reports and management responses. There is also the work of HIQA. Every month or so, we receive a range of reports from HIQA. For the first time, it is examining child welfare and protection services, which is very positive. HIQA has highlighted some pre-existing weaknesses in this system. I am committed to addressing these weaknesses and taking on board the points HIQA makes.

The Bill seeks to facilitate each of the distinct elements that make up the programme of Government commitment through the creation of an agency that is dedicated solely and exclusively to children and families, that has an improved range of services to meet the needs of children and families and is subject to best practice in the discharge of its accountability to the Government and the Oireachtas. The need for a dedicated agency recognises that the complex operational management and reform of child welfare and protection services have jostled with many other competing objectives within the large and very demanding health and personal social service arena.
The Bill provides the mandate for a dedicated agency to lead the improvement of children's services. I will not repeat the services that will be provided from the establishment date because we had an opportunity to discuss them already. Suffice it to say they range from the child welfare and protection services, preschool inspection services, domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services, services related to the psychological welfare of children, existing family support agency responsibilities and National Educational Welfare Board services. The incorporation of preschool inspection services will further promote a nationally consistent approach to the regulation of preschool services. My amendments develop the preschool quality agenda about which I have been speaking in recent months. There is to be a stronger regime of inspection and registration in this area and a range of other initiatives to ensure the standards we want to see in our early years services.
Considerable attention has been paid in the drafting of the Bill to the recommendations of the task force on the Child and family Agency and, in particular, to enhancing accountability. I hope we will have a fruitful discussion in the course of our deliberations.

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