John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Today, we will deal with the HSE report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the former foster home in Waterford community care area, which was the subject of the Conal Devine report. I draw the attention of members to three pieces of correspondence; first, correspondence from the Office of the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána relating to today's meeting; and, second, correspondence from Ms Mary Farrell about the wards of court. It is disappointing that at the final meeting of the PAC, this issue still has not been dealt with. We issued the report last June and at this stage we should have had a formal response to our recommendations. It will now be a matter for the next committee. I urge this Department and all other Departments involved in this to deal with the issue of the wards of court as quickly as possible. Wards of court are very vulnerable individuals and the funds in this instance are about to run out. Following the request of the Committee of Public Accounts at its previous meeting for this information, I would have expected those concerned to provide a speedy response. We have not had a response.