Ms Aoife Bairéad:

When I say "grave responsibility", I am using my words with care for that very reason. In the most recent report of the Child Law Project, 20% of the children in care came from families where drug and alcohol abuse is an issue. That is extraordinary because if those treatment centres were there - we should not be taking children into care unless it is absolutely necessary - but I am not sure, having worked in Tusla for a very long time that those services were readily available. I do not work there any more but I did and they certainly were not when I worked there. They are not there with the parents I now work with. When I say "grave responsibility", I mean that in the gravest way possible. I am not sure that sense of responsibility is there all of the time. As I said, on the ground we work with some extraordinarily dedicated people who have spent most of their lives working in the Department of Health and other places to make change happen but it must be from the top and it must be across different Departments. The health-led approach is the most evidence-based but it cannot work alone. That is why the citizens' assembly help in all policies. It named clearly a need to go across different Departments and it has to be seen as such.