Dr. Niall Muldoon:

I will share the answers with Ms Ward. Regarding the McMahon report, there was a real energy around it. A different political situation came into being under the then Minister, Ms Frances Fitzgerald, who had a strong understanding of children and the justice system in that regard. There was a push in the early stages. There was an implementation report as well as follow-up at many stages, but the matter fell by the wayside. After different Ministers took charge, the priorities were different.

As the Deputy rightly commented, one of our recommendations was for an independent complaints procedure. That recommendation was made by Mr. Justice McMahon. The situation was even worse at that stage because many people were even afraid to approach NGOs to complain about the system and let the NGOs take those complaints forward. The McMahon report helped to clarify our remit and the remit of the Ombudsman, Mr. Tyndall, in that we could go into the matter. In turn, that allowed us to start taking independent complaints. As such, it was the start of a system. The report was not followed through on fully in that regard, but there has never been a full rationale as to why its recommendations were not implemented. With many reports, it depends on the individual's priorities. The changes in Ministers and governments would have impacted the push to get those recommendations implemented.

For the other questions on Tusla's training in cultural sensitivity, the three findings and the follow-up, I will pass the committee over to my colleague, Ms Ward.