Ms Marissa Ryan:

I will just touch briefly on Senator Ruane’s first point, on how the voice of the child is upheld, if I understood her correctly. I can speak only from the perspective of our service. Essentially, regarding children or young people experiencing an issue with their care and who need support to enable them to advocate for themselves, because we are really about empowering children in care, we can take all legal and lawful action to support them. We essentially work for them. When they refer themselves to us or are referred by another body, they come to meet us.

We have a discussion with them. We identify what the issue is with which they need support, and then depending on the specific issue, we take a range of appropriate actions which will enable them to have their voice heard. For example, if the issue is around their child in care review, an advocate can attend the child in care review with the child or young person to ensure he or she understands the proceedings, and that the child's voice is facilitated either through his or her advocate, which is something the UNCRC allows for - the advocate can speak on behalf of the child - or the advocate can support the child to speak for him or herself. Then we follow up, and we continue with each case until there is either a satisfactory outcome or a decision has been reached, and then we explain that to the child or young person and ensure he or she knows what is happening, feels supported and knows what the next steps are.

Similarly, if a child or young person comes to us because he or she needs information or advice, we can do anything from supporting him or her in applying for the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI grant, for example, to linking him or her in with dedicated mental health services, to advocating with the foster parent if there is an issue with the child or young person's placement. It is essentially driven by the child or young person him or herself.