Mr. Cormac Quinlan:

That is a really important point in the context of this discussion. We have all spoken about how distressing and upsetting watching the programme last week was for everybody, particularly parents. What we saw was not only a breach of regulations and standards of care, it also involved adults acting in an abusive manner towards children and the use of excessive force. There are two separate issues here. Obviously, the regulation side will deal with the poor standards of care piece. However, it is so important that when a professional or anyone else sees what would be deemed to be reasonable grounds for concern or, in this context, even harm as defined by the Children First Act, which is a mandatory reporting requirement, it should be brought to the attention of the service. I need to be clear on this because it is so important. This is not unsolicited information given to a regulatory service, it is a child protection and welfare standard reporting form to our service that lists the child's details, who is suspected of causing harm to that child and the concerns relating in that regard. This allows Tusla and the child protection and welfare service to immediately act if there is an immediate need to protect that child. Irrespective of whatever regulatory process is happening, we can and should intervene to protect that child but we need the information from individuals who have an obligation to report that to us. It is so important that we receive such information and that people see their obligation to send it to us. This then affords us the opportunity to put in place immediate protection measures in respect of any child in order to prevent any future harm occurring.