Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 20 September 2022

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth

Foster Care: Discussion

Photo of Tom ClonanTom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----regardless of where they are, and then provide them with the requisite speech and language, SLT, dental treatment, etc. What we have reached at the moment is peak neoliberalism. I was going to say "peak" and mention a political party, but I will not. It is so completely and utterly dysfunctional that even in their shiny neoliberal dream, we cannot even get workers to come here now for the shiny tech industry because there is nowhere for them to live. We have reached the absolute peak of this approach and we need a reset. The policy, ideologically and philosophically, has shown itself unwilling to help us. Therefore, there needs to be a legislative compulsion to do so, as a starting point. It should be in the same vein as the legal requirement for cars to have passed a national car test, NCT, before being taken onto the road.

There must be an absolute legal requirement for the HSE and the State to provide these services and care. Part of this speaks to treating social workers, nurses, doctors and teachers with little bit of respect. We must be one of the only jurisdictions where doctors, nurses and teachers are demonised in our public discourse. All these aspects feed into one another. Listening to the witnesses today, I felt there was a similar experience. It has not got there yet, but it is heading in that direction. Therefore, we must work together. If any of the witnesses are available after this meeting, I am attempting to get to the point where we can put together some kind of draft legislation in this area, because it is missing. I refer to the witnesses' expertise in this area. I am sure they are au faitwith best practice legislation or a template for legislation in another jurisdiction that might address these issues.

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