James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Nonetheless, if that is happening, I want to know why and to see how it can be addressed because it is not in anyone's interest that we do not have full transparency and information for Deputies to base their policies and concerns on.

Senator van Turnhout raised the issue of the educational attainment level in Oberstown. That is something we should examine but it is an indication of "in the past" and I do not wish to upset any group. We mentioned it specifically in the Bill we were discussing earlier. In the past, there may have been a sense that the only way to protect the child was to send him to Oberstown but that is not appropriate. A range of measures need to be taken to develop community support, bail support and so on and they are under consideration at the moment. Measures are also required to support the Judiciary in understanding what is available to them rather than looking at this option because I am sure judges do not want to send people to detention centres if there is an alternative facility or service for them.

With regard to putting girls into special care instead of Oberstown, I do not know enough to comment on that but I will look into it. I am reminded of the idea of putting people into solitary confinement by bringing into law practices that might be appropriate most of the time but, in certain instances, might be inappropriate. We would then be caught by the legislation and, therefore, we must be careful about that in framing it.

The Senator mentioned the interdepartmental group and the talk about an increase in child benefit. The international evidence points to the fact that subsidies in this regard subsidise places that give children the service, make it more affordable for parents and leave parents with choices and this needs to be examined.

I take her point about child pornography and the terminology and I will speak to Department officials about that. I will have the language changed to "child abuse". It is also a matter for the Minister for Justice and Equality and I will talk to her about that.

The Senator then mentioned the Department of Social Protection and the gender Bill and the fact that the Norwegians are talking about bringing the age threshold down to seven with parental consent and other supports. Given this matter is before the courts in respect of the referendum we had on marriage equality and that impacts on all of this, we have more time to work on this. However, I made it clear that I was concerned at the lack of consideration of children in the Bill, as drafted. We need to have a proper consultation with young people on this and that cannot be rushed but, on the other hand, we do not want to delay a Bill that is of such importance to so many people and forms part of our EU obligations. We may get this into the Bill if time allows because nobody can predict what the courts will do, which goes back to our separation of powers, but, on the other hand, there are other Bills through which we might be able to accommodate these concerns in the autumn.

With regard to balance and ensuring choice, I touched on the adoption information and tracing Bill and I am much more optimistic than I was when we spoke a number of months ago because we had hit an impasse that would have caused tremendous angst for many people. I think we have found a mechanism to get around that and I look forward to progressing the legislation.

Deputy Mitchell O'Connor referred to education and Tusla inspections. It has been a concern from the outset that officials would conduct the inspections in a way that would cause the least disruption. We do not want inspections every second week with different people coming in; we want to streamline the process and we are working on that.

She referred to a two year old with an allergy who is having difficulty accessing preschool. I acknowledge the Chairman said that can be dealt with this week when the HSE appears before the committee but we could have a look at this. There are enough barriers to young children accessing preschool services, even though we have an excellent ECCE programme. We do not want children like this becoming a problem.