Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. I welcome the Minister and his staff to today's meeting. I will concentrate initially on the question of accessibility to preschool year education of all children, including those with disabilities. While I welcome the Minister's goodwill and the intentions expressed in his reply, unfortunately the main issue is that most crèches do not have enough proper facilities, equipment or highly trained staff to deal with the needs of children with varying disabilities. While Dublin might be in a better position to cope with children with special needs and disabilities, quite often rural areas do not have the equipment, the facilities or the staff to deal with children with special needs. Some parents are paying for special needs assistants so they can send their children to preschool. The Minister said in his opening statement that the interdepartmental group will have its first meeting next week. When will the group make some findings on appropriate provision for children with special needs? Can the Minister give us an idea of the timeframe in that regard?Does he think this will happen before the end of the summer? Will it happen in time for the next school year?

Children with autism find it very difficult to get a diagnosis with a multidisciplinary team. They are often two and a half or three years of age before such a diagnosis is made. I believe there is an eight-month waiting list for diagnosis. Parents find it extremely difficult to access a preschool place for their children, who are often four or five years of age before they can access such a place. I wonder if that is something the Minister could look at.

My next question deals with the drastic lack of provision of social workers to children in need. An RTE report on 9 February last stated:

Social workers are resigning from their jobs at a rate of one a week. New figures on staff turnover obtained by RTÉ's Morning Ireland indicate that social workers are almost twice as likely to resign their positions when compared to management and administrative staff in the Health Service Executive. ... The figures indicate that while the State is continuing to recruit social workers, particularly in the area of child and family support, a large number of staff are simultaneously walking away from the profession.

Why does the Minister think this is the case? According to the RTE report, campaigners say social workers are leaving their positions "because of stress levels" and because they are over-burdened with caseloads. Does the Minister think this is the reason? The RTE report mentions that "in 2009, the Ryan report identified the retention of social workers in Irish child care as problematic, with higher turnover rates than other areas". That was 2009; this is 2015 and it is still problematic. How can a problem go on for seven years without being dealt with? We seem to have the same problem, which is that we cannot keep up with the demand for social workers. They keep leaving the service. The Minister has said in response to a parliamentary question on the subject of social workers that "where necessary, temporary staff are brought in immediately to cover vacancies until such vacancies are filled on a permanent basis". Why are so many social workers able to take up temporary employment when so many permanent social workers are needed? They seem to be there, but why are we not hiring them? He said in the same reply that "a pilot Maternity Leave Cover scheme has been introduced whereby maternity related vacancies in each region can be filled by way of temporary contracts". How does this pilot scheme work? How is it working out?

Regarding the establishment of a commission of investigation into mother and baby homes, the Minister said in his opening statement that a premises has been identified and "work is ongoing to provide the necessary facilities, equipment and staff required to support an effective commission". When does he believe the staff will be in place? When does he believe the commission will be ready to start the hearings?

I would like to join others in welcoming the appointment of the new Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon. I am delighted he is going to be before the committee shortly. Another speaker made the point that the role of the Ombudsman for Children should be enhanced to include taking complaints from children in direct provision. I was very disappointed to hear the Minister say he has no immediate plans to amend the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002 for those purposes. I believe the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs should be the Minister for all children, including those in direct provision. These children need to be heard. Many issues arise in this regard. Regardless of whether these children were born in this State, as many of them were, I believe they have the same rights as any other child in the nation. Many of them are living in close proximity to people who are not related to them. They are encountering many difficulties. This should be revisited and reviewed.