Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. It is very interesting listening to what they have to say and reading their presentations. I am very thankful for the additional information I now have that I did not have before, and I would say many others like me did not have it before. The question of fostering does not arise very often on the political agenda - the witnesses might say that is part of the problem - unless there is some sort of scandal, be it sexual or otherwise, in which case it is in all the newspapers then. I found it very enlightening. I have a few comments and questions to all the speakers.

Ms O'Toole made a statement that foster carers are to be celebrated and supported. I agree with her 100% and I am sure every reasonable person would. We all know families, indeed they are in my constituency, who are in that position and you could not speak highly enough of them. It is only that I am thinking that perhaps there are a whole lot of problems for them that I never was aware of. I probably took it for granted they were doing a function and, just like every other parent, they were just getting on with it. I can see clearly now they are in a different position. Ms O'Toole said was that politicians should regularly and vocally support fostering in their constituencies at national level. My question for her, and perhaps she could comment briefly on it when I am finished, is how we can do that. I would be happy to do it. I engage with nearly all voluntary and community effort and I would certainly like to find a way I could be more forthcoming and of assistance there.

Dr. O'Brien's main point was the establishment of the working party, which sounds very interesting. I will be devil's advocate, if she does not mind. We have countless committees, acting committees and broad-based committees. Will this just be another one of those? That is the question the taxpayer will be asking. Dr. O'Brien spoke of an 18-month period for a report. I have yet to see a report brought in on time. That is being devil's advocate, but that said, I am fully in support of it because it makes sense to me, except that it may be yet another layer of bureaucracy.

One or two points in Dr. O'Brien's presentation interested me. The adoption rate is disappointing. Who would be the target group to adopt? I might be totally ignorant here. Is it the foster parents who adopt finally or would it be a third party? Ms O'Toole is nodding for the first. That is very good.

Then there is the decline and that 90% of children are catered for in the fostering services. What becomes of the other 10%? I think it was described as non-foster placement. I would like to know what that is.

Ms Bairéad's statement was very detailed. It is probably very micro for the likes of us. We are laymen. I am a former teacher so I have some idea of children's needs but I am not Jean Piaget. I will study this a bit more closely, and if I can be of any assistance, I will.