Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Will the Minister of State confirm that the information on which his Department relies for an overview of child protection services is, essentially, the information contained in the 2006 report, which was only published last October? Does he agree it is an understatement to say there is a time lag in information and that it is scandalously unacceptable that the report for 2007 has not yet been published, two and a half weeks before we enter 2009? Will the Minister of State confirm that as Minister with responsibility for children he does not know how many files are currently on the shelves of offices of the HSE, detailing reports of children at risk of abuse or neglect, due to be allocated for full assessment to a social worker but which have not yet been allocated? Will he confirm there are many hundreds of such cases?

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