Ms Nuala Ward:

Yes. What we have put forward is that the Office of the Ombudsman sought a statutory instrument to ensure private nursing homes would fall under its remit a number of years ago. We believe we could simply duplicate that. As more and more State investment goes in, if the Department supports us we could engage with the sector and providers and very quickly be able to take complaints. That is our hope but we would need support for that.

In regard to the child protection concerns, it is very serious. A lot of my team are front-line staff. They take calls and go out to centres. We have very strong obligations, like everyone else, in regard to the Children First guidelines. Even if we receive a complaint, my team always take a look to see if there is a child at risk, a child protection concern or an abuse concern and we notify it to Tusla or to the Garda as appropriate. That is the 88%. They can be very complex and, quite frankly, are a reflection of the referrals to Tusla and, sadly, of our society at the moment.

We are really concerned about special care. We have to remember, with regard to the Deputy's point about the therapeutic issue, that to deprive a child of his or her liberty for welfare reasons involves the highest level of rights we are speaking about here. This is beyond serious. For us to fail to give the children the adequate therapeutic supports they need is shocking. It is absolutely unacceptable. We have engaged with Tusla about the special care report. We think it is an excellent report but it has to be implemented quickly. We cannot have another report, not when these children are being deprived of their liberty for years. A very reliable source said recently that there are children with very serious matters coming up in front of the courts and asking the judge to please send them to Oberstown, not special care, because at least in Oberstown they have a release date. That is very serious.