Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have no problem starting. I thank the ombudsman for the presentation this morning. Given that he was representing and speaking on behalf of 1.2 million people, he did very well to condense it down like that. How he summed it up at the end encompassed it all. As he said, it is the small little bits that one forgets that really take away the hardship for the parents and the families. My ideal is that I always hope that I have happy, healthy, educated kids. The Ombudsman has covered one, two and three there in his presentation. It is staggering that 47% of complaints relate to education while 25% relate to the family agency. The third problem, 11%, relates to health. At the end of the presentation, one really sees the issue of access to schools. As a rural Deputy, the biggest access problem for parents that I see is school transport. That is a huge issue for parents living in rural areas.

In general, the ombudsman has stepped matters out very well and, as my party's spokesperson on children and youth affairs, I hope we can work together to bring some of this forward and support the work of the office. My colleagues and I have been harping on about post-care support mechanisms for children who have been in care for a long number of years. It is amazing how much money is invested in them while they are in care yet suddenly when they turn 18, there are no support mechanisms in place. After that, we are into a bigger raft of issues, be it from housing, drugs or whatever else. I would love the ombudsman to expand on that going forward. If we could get that piece right, it could sort out an awful lot of other problems into the future. On access to high quality counsellors and mental health in our schools, what is the ombudsman's vision when he meets with the Department of Education and Skills? What will he be saying to the Department and what will he encourage it to do? As Deputies, we experience the detrimental effect a lack of guidance counsellors has had in schools. There are pockets throughout the country which really need that support and I would love to hear what the ombudsman has to say in that regard. The parents of children with disabilities face a huge issues and I would love to hear what the ombudsman is going to say to the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath.

Children in direct provision are not mentioned. I attended recently the "Inclusive Centenaries" conference in NUIG which was the most amazing conference I have attended in a long time. We listened to children in direct provision speak. Connacht was playing in the Heineken cup final and they could only watch on their phones. They could not have friends over because they are in direct provision and in the hotel room. Things are no different for children in homelessness, but these are children who are well able and articulate and they have never had a home. They have only ever had a bedroom and had it to share with their brothers, sisters and families. Direct provision is a huge issue for those children and their voices need to be heard. They do not feel that they are heard which concerns me. Last Monday, I met with a group from YAP Ireland, which is an absolutely brilliant organisation. It interviewed myself and Joe Canning because he is the ambassador for UNICEF. They do not feel that they have a mechanism for their voices to be heard and they do not feel that their voices count. They feel they need to be able to articulate their views in either a questionnaire or some other form every now and again. For example, if a social worker is not engaged, they are afraid to speak up and to open that line of communication. When they do, things have nearly gone too far. They would like some way to provide feedback and to let their voices be heard, be it on a questionnaire or otherwise. It could be the simplest things, but we need to empower kids as to how to communicate and support them in that whole element of communication. If that could be done through the ombudsman with guidance for the rest of us on how to communicate that back, it would be valuable work.

I appreciate the time the ombudsman has taken here this morning. There was a great deal in the presentation. We will enjoy working with him.