Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Shatter for raising these important issues on the Adjournment and congratulate him on his appointment as spokesperson for the Fine Gael Party on children's matters. I look forward to working with him over the coming years in a constructive manner.

I welcome the opportunity to reply to this Adjournment matter. I assume the Deputy is referring to the findings of the Health Information and Quality Authority social services inspectorate's report, The Placement of Children aged 12 and under in Residential Care in Ireland, launched yesterday, and the report, Listening to Children: Children's Stories of Domestic Violence, launched earlier today.

The Health Information and Quality Authority's social services inspectorate's report notes that inspectors found a lack of placement options for this age group, with continued placement in residential centres being maintained due to a lack of available options. I understand the Health Service Executive has accepted that children of this age group should only be placed in residential care in exceptional circumstances. For example, this would be where a sibling group is being placed together for the purposes of maintaining a family unit, where there are particular therapeutic needs or where short-term issues must be addressed prior to an alternative placement.

The Health Service Executive has advised that the numbers of children in this age group in residential care has reduced from 120 children aged 12 and under in 2004 to 93 in 2006. The latest information available to the HSE suggests a further substantial reduction by the end of 2007. These reductions reflect the ongoing priority attached to caring for children in family settings. I am heartened by the HSE's indication that the findings of this report will be used to make further improvements in this area.

The importance of effective and rigorous care planning cannot be underestimated. I welcome the finding that all the children in this study had a care plan and virtually all had a social worker assigned to them. My office has been assured by the Health Service Executive that having ensured compliance with statutory requirements, it will continue to work to improve the quality of care planning throughout the care system. In respect of the current placement of those under 12 in residential settings, the HSE has initiated a review of all these cases to ensure they are placed appropriately and will, if necessary, strengthen care planning arrangements for their placement in alternatives to residential care.

Where there is no option but to take a child into State care it is imperative that we continue to work towards providing each child with specific services to meet his or her needs and those of the families. I welcome the fact that the executive is seeking to develop specialised foster care services which will provide more intensive support for children who have significant needs in this regard while working closely at all times with the child's family.

An annual national fostering campaign is also being developed by the executive in conjunction with the Irish Foster Care Association for 2008. I anticipate that this, together with the HSE ongoing foster carer recruitment campaigns, will encourage many more people to undertake this important role in the lives of these children.

My office and the Health Service Executive are examining all the recommendations contained in the report and are working together on the development of a policy direction regarding the placement of children aged 12 and under in residential care. We must be mindful that at times residential care may be the most appropriate and beneficial option for the child at that time.

The report, Listening to Children: Children's Stories of Domestic Violence, launched earlier today, identifies the impact on children of witnessing domestic violence and the nature, scope and adequacy of domestic violence services for children. My office commissioned this study which, as Deputy Shatter mentioned, was carried out by two researchers from Waterford Institute of Technology.

To improve the level of co-ordination and coherence in the Government's response to domestic violence, it was decided that an executive office should be established with key responsibility for this issue. Cosc, the national office for the prevention of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, was established in June this year to fulfil this task. I am pleased to advise the Deputy that Cosc has agreed to work with my office in instances where issues regarding domestic and sexual violence against children arise.

Research indicates that some services are difficult to access but children who are the victims of domestic violence and their families have access to the range of child protection and child welfare services provided directly by the Health Service Executive and through funded agencies across the country. They can also access child and adolescent mental health services.

Part of Cosc's work will be to raise awareness of the services available and to work with the agencies concerned towards the delivery of well co-ordinated services to support victims of domestic violence. My office and the Health Service Executive support and encourage a primary care response to domestic violence which integrates locally based and readily accessible services, including joining the services of the Garda Síochána, general practitioners and the Health Service Executive.

It is also important to point to the increased allocation to the HSE from €12 million last year to €16.5 million in 2007, which should assist in improvement to front-line services. A further €1.5 million was allocated for the implementation of the review of the sexual assault treatment services, with a commitment to increase this allocation by €1 million in 2008 to cover the full-year cost of implementing those recommendations.

I will ask the HSE to examine the findings of the research being undertaken and to consider how services in this area can be further improved.

See this speech in context