Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail)
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Dr. Niall Muldoon's report came out last week. It was quite scathing of the Department. We should not take the negative from it. It should not be an attack. Dr. Niall Muldoon is an unbelievable man. Some of the words he used were quite positive, such as "reconfiguration", "being reimaginative". There is no point in being negative. We must be positive in terms of what we can do in the future. The council needs to reimagine and reconfigure how to work, maybe rip up everything it has done so far and start again. We know it is not really working but as we have a new team, a new leader, it should really try to figure out a new plan, a new way of working, and put parents' needs at the forefront. I say "parents' needs" because parents have their children as their number one priority so when looking after parents you are really looking after the children. The council needs to figure out providing more early intervention classes in the city because it is really upsetting for parents not to be able to put their children in a proper placement. Moreover, AIMS is letting parents down and by that, letting children down.