Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for her presentation. The Minister said, "We cannot and will not be complacent". I endorse everything she said in that respect and everything in page 4 of her presentation. I will start with Dr. Shannon's report and some questions I asked in the House last week during Priority Questions. With regard to the statement that we cannot and will not be complacent, I believe we are as a committee and a Department because we have half the work done. We must finish the other half. The report is a live document. We are not talking about something that happened ten or 15 years ago but in 2016. I will refer to page 50. In 2015, there were 718 children under section 12. In 2015, Tusla told us the out-of-hours call service was in four areas - Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare and Cork. In the month of December 2015, there were 40 children under section 12 and in November of that year there were 45 children under that section. The data are available. One cannot beat the information. It is world recognised and we all agree that this is a good piece of work.

It is real. It references children who have been removed repeatedly under section 12 and repeatedly placed back in the family home with no follow-up and no connection between An Garda Síochána and Tusla. The Minister should forget about asking Tusla to do an independent review. We know it does not have the staff. I ask the Minister to ask Dr. Shannon to finish his work. I want to know about chapter 2. What happened to these children? There is no point in saying it will be investigated. I want to know if the system is working. I want to know that the systems and supports are in place. I endorse Tusla. I am one of the few Deputies who believes it is a young organisation that needs support, but the only way it will get the support it needs is if it knows the areas where it is falling down. Dr. Shannon refers to 91 cases. I want to know that that audit is complete. Let us find the recommendations for Tusla as well as An Garda Síochána so that we can move forward. Is the Minister committed to a ministerial order giving a direction for the piece of work to be completed? That is my only question.