Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

This is not a reflection on the Minister of State or his colleagues. As public representatives, we deal with situations in which people have expressed concerns about child abuse, neglect and welfare, aspects that constitute a major part of an issue that has always been addressed in retrospect. We must address the issue in advance. Barnardos and other groups are promoting the necessary protection of children. This is not being done to the exclusion of parents, as we must proceed with their co-operation, help and support in instances of possible neglect.

I will never understand how, in cases of child sexual abuse, perpetrators can abuse small, innocent children of less than two years of age for a long period and presume that society will never catch them. This is a reflection on our society. While people have told me that there have always been signs, I do not know whether that is the case. However, it is extraordinary that such abuse can continue for years without coming to light. We now know that, in some cases, abuses were brought to people's attention but the children were not believed. The moral of the story is that, as our society evolves and becomes more impersonal and based on financial gain and materialism, we must reconsider this issue. For all we know, serious offences of this order are occurring as we speak.

The more impersonal society becomes and the more we all withdraw into our own day-to-day affairs, the less chance there is that any of us will be in a position to point out when something is wrong with a particular situation because, through our observations as a neighbour, teacher or doctor, we have knowledge that nobody else may have. It is extremely important that action is taken when something is brought to the attention of the authorities. The first issue is that the charges must be authenticated and, to do so, they must be investigated at an early stage. It is not sufficient simply to ignore the concerns that have been expressed and hope there will be developments which make it easier to intervene. I emphasise that this is not to suggest that the State should come between parents and children.

In recent years, I have written repeatedly to three Departments and raised questions in this House in regard to child welfare issues and situations where there are serious family problems. There are bodies with responsibilities for child welfare issues under the remit of the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Department of Health and Children. There is clearly a problem when we have three Departments with responsibility in this area but none of them is taking it. That is one of the lessons we should learn. To be fair to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Garda was at least in a position to take some action. However, if everybody else opts out and there are long reports from social workers which are not acted upon, we are wasting our time. There is nothing more demeaning and annoying to any professional or politician than repeatedly making a particular case only to find it is ignored.

All the relevant departmental agencies, whether in the realms of education, justice or health, must accept and live up to their responsibilities and ensure they carry out the particular function or role assigned to them under legislation. Otherwise, another politician will be standing in this Chamber in 50 years' time asking why something was not done at an earlier stage and why nobody intervened.

Other Members referred to the abuse perpetrated against children by people in authority, whether within families or in the spheres of health, education and so on. Abuse of an innocent child by a person in authority is appalling. There has been a reasonably thorough review of cases going back over the past 25 or 30 years and much nefarious material which was previously kept hidden has come to public attention. That is to be welcomed. However, the vetting of people who are in direct contact with children must be examined to a far greater extent than heretofore. Far more stringent vetting procedures are in operation in other jurisdictions to the extent that convicted sexual abusers and paedophiles from other countries have moved to this State and we have no effective means of tracking such movements. Our response is haphazard and inadequate.

I referred earlier to the impersonal nature of our society. Recent events in Austria should be sufficient to illustrate what can happen on their own doorsteps when people turn a blind eye. Something similar could be happening in this State. We must have a system which guarantees that legitimately expressed concerns about the welfare of any child are investigated. We, as legislators, and society in general have a duty to ensure that persons in positions of power and authority over children are carefully vetted and that no such persons use their power to abuse children, sexually or otherwise.

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