Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I congratulate Deputy Shatter on bringing forward the motion. It is a scandal it had to be brought forward but not unexpected when one knows the way our systems work. It is shocking and disturbing to see what these six children have come through, and it is clear they suffered much abuse and many difficulties. Although they were attending school and were out in public, nobody cried stop. It is a scandalous situation about which one must ask many questions.

The biggest question is why the Minister, when she was putting forward an inquiry into this situation, chose two people from the HSE to inquire into the HSE itself. I support Deputy Shatter very strongly on this issue. As one who has experience of many inquiries in the north east, I know it is very important that one has people who cannot be questioned. I do not doubt the ability of those two people from the HSE as I do not know either of them. However, the bottom line is that they are staff members of the HSE and, as such, they have certain loyalties. I would not be happy that they would inquire into a situation such as this.

One must ask where were all of those who were in contact with these children on a daily or weekly basis, namely, the church, teachers, neighbours and, above all, the services. As one who has been much involved with the services for other reasons, I unfortunately know better than most how they work. They have such an administrative structure that it is hard for those at the coalface to get support or, as Deputy Shatter said, to get the training they need for such situations. It is vital, and has been often said, that this should be the last straw. We must get our structures right and the HSE must learn from this. It is important the different organisations that could have had contact with these children, whether they are educational organisations or otherwise, would not allow such a situation to happen again.

I could point to the legal situation. In a statement sometime ago, Deputy Shatter noted that in November 2006 the report of the Joint Committee on Child Protection was published and contained 62 different recommendations with regard to sexual offences against children. Among those recommendations is one that the criminal law in this area be substantially reformed and codified into a single statute. While this issue has been around for many years, we find that the court decision to impose sentences was made based on an Act of 1908.

The Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, and the senior Minister, Deputy Harney, must work to have this Act updated. They have an extremely important opportunity available to them, whereby they are entitled to give leadership. They are the two people in the most exalted situation as far as these children are concerned. The Minister and the Minister of State have the power not just to sit on legislation but to get it made. As was seen this afternoon, if legislation is needed, my party will support it wholeheartedly. I appeal to the Minister for Health and Children and the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children to re-examine what is being done and to re-examine the management structures in place, which are so top heavy that ordinary staff believe they are left in a very vulnerable situation. The people who will get the blame are possibly those at level of social workers and I have a good deal of sympathy for them, as I have dealt with them in other cases. Their hands are tied and they are subject to all types of regulation. I appeal to the Minister and Minister of State to get to grips with the administrative structure which has been allowed to continue. Recently, I drove into a car park in St. Davnet's complex, County Monaghan, and I could not believe the number of cars I saw there and, by extension, the number of administrators working. This is at a time when I cannot arrange for home help or any other service for which there is no money available.

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