Mr. Jim Gibson:

I think it is also important to highlight the processes that are defined in our child protection systems. Social work practitioners at an area level engage with liaison sergeants in An Garda Síochána and hold strategy meetings with each other. More high risk cases where it is deemed that children can remain with families in the community are governed by our child protection case conferences. An Garda Síochána is good at attending this forum and participates in professional discussions about child safety and specific child protection plans. There are also built in forums for professionals from other agencies to contribute to the overall discussion because child protection is everyone's business and the best plans are arrived at using this collaborative approach. This also includes cases where it is not right or proper to return a child to a specific situation and the child then remains in care. Those assurances are built into the system. As Mr. McBride stated, other liaison meetings are also held. For example, area managers meet Garda superintendents meet to raise and discuss issues. There is a robust and comprehensive governance structure in place around that.

I will introduce one concept that is valued by all of us who are involved in social work. Every individual has the potential to change and it would be remiss of us as an agency or a professional group in the agency not to continuously consider the potential of parents to make changes. We engage with parents to examine the possibility of their children returning home. For example, where the care of a child is neglectful and tied into the alcoholism and addiction of parents, and the level of neglect leads to the child going into care, if dad and mum recover and prove their sobriety over a sustained period, it allows us to engage with the family and consider the possibility of reunification. This is central to best practice and it is similar to a scenario where a person commits a crime and goes to prison. In such circumstances, the hope is that there will be some rehabilitative programme in place that will allow the person to return from prison without re-offending.