Mr. Fred McBride:

Yes, we are. The first responder is normally An Garda Síochána, in particular if there is a violent incident or a child is harmed in some way. However, gardaí are obliged to then give us information about that and we either respond together with them or, sometimes, after their initial response. Decisions as to whether to remove a child in an emergency situation are made immediately by gardaí under section 12, which was referred to earlier, and we follow the matter up. If a child is to be removed on a longer-term basis through a care order, we apply to the courts.