Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

In the course of this debate, it has been reiterated that child protection is everyone's concern. While that is easily stated, it is primarily the responsibility of the State to ensure the services and facilities are in place to leave it beyond any doubt that children are protected. None of us believes there is a simple formula or set of procedures that can be cast in stone and put in place to ensure there will never again be a case of child abuse or neglect. However, there are simple procedures that, given everything we have heard, need to reconsidered, restated and reinforced. We must tackle the legislation and find what needs to be done to ensure every possible procedure that can be activated to ensure children are safeguarded is in place.

The horrific events in Roscommon are of a nature and scale that I had hoped we would never have to hear or read about again. There is nothing any of us in this House can say that will change the awful conditions and circumstances for those children and the impact this is sure to have on them. All we can hope for is that all the services and facilities that are now available to them will be put in place efficiently and sensibility to ensure they do not suffer more.

It is a fair observation that there are many other cases of child abuse out there in families and communities. They may not be of the same scale or extreme but child neglect and abuse is certainly still occurring in many homes and communities. It is too late for the children we have referred to in Roscommon to be protected but their future welfare must be dealt with and supported in every possible way. For the other children out there who are still potentially at risk, every support and intervention that is necessary and available should be put in place and provided for. Whatever about the economy and cuts, there is absolutely no set of circumstances in which penny-pinching should apply when it comes to the welfare of children.

What services are required? Is the Minister satisfied, for example, that there are enough social workers available to deal with the potential number of cases? Are there enough resources to ensure social workers at the coalface are given every legal back-up needed to allow them to carry out their responsibilities? Is the Minister satisfied the children of parents who are known to have alcohol problems or drug-related addiction, for example, are given the support or, if necessary, the intervention to protect their welfare?

On a number of previous occasions in the House, I raised from a slightly different perspective an issue that concerns me, namely, the situation of at-risk children who are safe and secure when they attend school but who return home to a dysfunctional environment where there is no order, security or food. These are children who only know fear, neglect and violence. Perhaps these cases are not as acute as those involving the Roscommon children but, undoubtedly, they leave many innocent children damaged, neglected and harmed by the failure of a parent to cope and, in turn, the failure of the State to put in place the supports and interventions that are needed, call them what one wants.

There is a need. We are all aware of situations, although we perhaps cannot categorically say there is a problem. However, there are people at the coalface whose responsibility it is to ensure those kinds of events are tackled and that the environment and conditions are changed to ensure the security and safety of those children. When we do not intervene and put in supports, we wonder later on why we have damaged children, teenagers and young adults who resort to drug abuse, crime and anti-social behaviour and drop out of school. Perhaps the investment we require now to tackle this problem seems major, but in the long term if we do not get to grips with this issue and invest whatever resources it takes to make their lives safe and secure, everybody, particularly those children, will pay an incalculable price.

It has been a horrific saga for the children who suffered in the Roscommon case. It is crucial the review of this case is independent, thorough and prompt. I welcome the appointment of Ms Norah Gibbons to chair the committee.

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