Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Muldoon and Ms O'Shea. They are very welcome here today. If it is the case that some of my questions would be more appropriately answered by the Ombudsman for Children, I will have no difficulty with being advised to that effect. I will not ask some other questions today.

Deputy McLellan asked about the number of investigations over the last ten years. I would be very interested to get an understanding of the nature and type of the complaints that are being received by the public. I know from previous reports that complaints are predominantly received from parents who are advocating on behalf of their children, but I would like to know how this has evolved and changed over the ten-year period in question. Should we be more worried about certain Departments? I am sure Departments have learnt lessons as they have dealt with the Ombudsman for Children. Perhaps some of them would get gold stars while others would not. It would be interesting to understand what is going on in that area.

The second issue I would like to raise is the question of engagement with the Oireachtas under section 19 of the Act. As a Member of the Oireachtas, I have a difficulty with reports from the Ombudsman for Children being laid before the media before being laid before the Oireachtas. The Act does not clearly articulate that they should go before us first, but I would have thought, in light of the clear role of the Ombudsman for Children with regard to the Oireachtas, that we should have sight of those reports in advance. Is there a way that we can look at this? I have looked at the reports to which Dr. Muldoon has referred. In the foreword to the meta-analysis, the Ombudsman for Children says that "each of these promised actions [this refers to the recommendations] by the newly formed Child and Family Agency will allow the Oireachtas to measure Tusla's progress and provide a baseline for improvements which we all hope to see for this small but extremely vulnerable cohort of children".

How does the Ombudsman for Children see the Oireachtas playing that role? She has clearly outlined that we have a role although until I read the report in preparation for today's meeting I had not seen that the responsibility was placed on us. Is the responsibility placed on the Joint Committee on Health and Children or the Oireachtas as a whole?

The Children First report will go before the Houses. I remember when the April 2010 report came out, there was a clear reference in chapter 3D to an industrial relations issue that arose in the eastern regional health authority concerning individuals who refused to implement Children First. Can we be assured with the new Child and Family Agency that there are no industrial relations issues pertaining to Children First or is that something the committee should ask directly of the agencies?

Following the establishment of the Child and Family Agency and the meta-analysis report published by the Ombudsman for Children in December, what engagements has the office had with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the Child and Family Agency on the ombudsman’s recommendations? I concur with all of them, but I would like to see progress and to consider how we can best ensure we make such progress for children.

I wish to ask a question of the Ombudsman for Children but I cannot. Special powers were delegated to her on the investigation into the Roma children incidents not to the Office of the Ombudsman. I wish to ask about the findings but I cannot ask the question today.