Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Shatter for raising this issue and welcome the opportunity to respond on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Brendan Smith, Minister of State with responsibility for children, who is in Armagh at a North-South function and cannot attend the debate.

The Minister welcomes the publication by the Health Service Executive on 15 April 2008 of the review inquiry into child protection issues touching on or concerning Dr. A. When this issue came into the public domain in July 2007, the Minister instructed the HSE to carry out an immediate review of how the relevant authorities responded to an incident in Amsterdam involving Dr. A and his subsequent conviction in 2005. The Minister wishes to stress that the HSE report does not imply a general failure to operate the Children First guidelines across the public service, but only shows that in some instances the guidelines were not followed.

A key finding of the HSE review clearly states that Children First — the National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children, was not followed in at least some instances, once the situation concerning Dr. A's trip to Amsterdam came to light. The Minister welcomes the finding that if the guidelines had been followed, as stated in the report, then "timely and clear outcomes in a child protection context would have been achieved". This is a strong endorsement of the guidelines as they stand. The Minister believes, however, that lessons can be learned from this case. The review of Children First currently being undertaken by his office will carefully consider the recommendations of the report and take account of same in finalising the review, which is nearing completion. On the Minister's instruction a high level group has been established, comprising officials of the Office of the Minister for Children, the HSE, the Garda Síochána and the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Education and Science. The group will meet as soon as possible to ensure that there is a fuller awareness of child protection policies, guidelines and procedures, and to explore how the current arrangements under Children First can be improved upon.

In the light of the publication of the review, there has been some commentary on the need to place Children First on a statutory basis. The Minister believes the conclusions of the review to be a clear vindication of the existing child protection guidelines. Co-operation between the HSE and State agencies has been improved upon since the incident in 2004. It can be argued that a statutory route could be problematic, as it might place extensive administrative burdens on relevant bodies and organisations and actually slow up the notification process.

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