Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and her officials for attending and for giving us a detailed outline of where we stand. I would like to focus on four or five issues.

The Children First Bill was launched this week, and while I welcome its publication, I wonder why there has been a U-turn on what was previously promised - when the heads of the Bill were published more than two years ago - regarding sanctions. I appreciate that we will go into more detail when the Bill goes through the various Stages in the House. The legislation has been watered down greatly. Guidelines have been in place since 1999, as the Minister mentioned, which put an onus on people to report suspicions of child abuse or child neglect. There is no major difference in the new legislation, which provides no sanction against people who fail to meet their responsibilities as outlined in the guidelines. Without sanctions, the legislation is not fit for purpose.

With regard to the early years and preschool quality agenda, one of the key elements of the Minister's eight-point quality plan is the new registration process. I tabled a parliamentary question more than three weeks ago to her, which was referred to the Child and Family Agency for answer. I am still waiting for a reply. I asked how many new services have opened since 1 January and how many of them have complied with the new registration process. I have been informed by a number of people throughout the country that the process is not in operation and they are still working under the old notification process. Will the Minister confirm this? If that is the case, are the HSE or the Child and Family Agency in breach of the legislation, which ensures all new services from 1 January 2014 will operate under the new registration process?

We are almost 12 months on from the "Prime Time" exposé. I have been contacted by someone in County Louth who says a public health nurse inspector is still awaited there. This means there are still regions that do not have a public health nurse inspector. At the previous quarterly meeting, the Minister stated that interviews had taken place and she was in the process of appointing inspectors. Will all regions to be catered for? My information is that there are still areas in which no inspector is in place. Will she confirm whether that is the case? When will the new standards be published? They were meant to be published last year.

I, along with other members, have highlighted the issue of affordability of child care on a regular basis over the past number of years. I welcome that the Minister has undertaken to review the current systems administered by her Department. Earlier, there was a report on "Morning Ireland" about the most recent survey carried out by the Irish League of Credit Unions, which identified that the cost of child care had increased since the previous comparable survey. I appreciate that her Department has many issues to deal with, but what priority attaches to the affordability issue? When will the review of the two schemes administered by her Department be complete?

The Minister referred to adoption records and the information and tracing Bill. That is important legislation which I and many others have called for over a long period. The Minister and the Minister for Justice and Equality called for it when they were in opposition. People are frustrated and they feel let down because the legislation has not been published. We are denying human beings a basic fundamental right, which is the right to their identity. The Minister cited constitutional issues that she must grapple with, but in 1975 the UK introduced similar legislation. I acknowledge that it has a different constitution, but we need to examine this issue. If we need to go down the route of a constitutional amendment, then that is the route we must take, because these people are entitled to their identity and we have to work to ensure this right is vindicated.

I raised the vetting issue with the Minister during Question Time on 12 February. She said her officials would speak to officials from the Department of Justice and Equality about how this would be addressed. I understand it still has not been dealt with almost six weeks later and I would appreciate it if she could give an update on this issue.