Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

Normally when I begin a contribution on a Private Members' motion, I welcome it, but I regret that we needed to table this motion. However, I thank Deputy Shatter for proposing it and support his call and that of the Fine Gael Party for an independent investigation.

I agree with and support Deputy Naughten, who outlined the concerns of the Children's Rights Alliance. The investigative team is not independent, as its terms of reference are too narrow. Of concern is the fact that it seems to focus on how the health service managed the case from a care perspective and does not extend into wider areas. I want to reiterate my colleagues' comments on the power to compel witnesses. After one report on this matter, I do not want to need to seek another, thereby prolonging the agony and distress of everyone involved, particularly the children, some of whom are now adults and have the wherewithal to understand that they have a right to an adequate response to what happened to them and that the State failed them.

What came to light in Roscommon last week was appalling and horrific. Six young children had their youth, innocence and lives shattered by their own mother and a system that, wherever the responsibility is deemed to lie, failed them completely. I was surprised to hear Government representatives describe what occurred as a watershed and to hear people express shock that a mother could fail her children in this way. Before Christmas, I walked into a book shop on Nassau Street and saw an entire section dedicated to books written by children whose parents, society, church and others had failed, abused and neglected them. Sadly, many of those books were written by Irish children. While this case is appalling and horrific and its facts are shocking, similar situations are still occurring. There have been too many watersheds where we have told the House that we would learn from them and where we passed minor legislation, after which we moved on and sat back to await another watershed when we would repeat the same procedure. This case may be one of the most serious imaginable, but sadly other children in this country have been victims of abuse of varying degrees, with devastating consequences. It is often said that the measure of a civil society is how it treats its most vulnerable, and children are our most vulnerable. Yet, again children have been failed by a system that was unable to protect them.

In 1993 Ms Justice Catherine McGuinness in the Kilkenny incest report recommended that consideration be given to amendment of Articles 41 and 42 of the Constitution to include a statement on the rights of children, a recommendation which she reiterated this week, which is hard to believe. It is important to impress upon everyone involved the importance of an amendment to the Constitution. Also, it is important to re-iterate the point made this week by Ms Justice McGuinness that while doing so will not necessarily stop something dreadful happening, it will at least change the approach. She also said: "There would be more of an atmosphere of putting the child's right first, rather than thinking of the parents' rights and the family rights first." I do not believe anyone could in all conscience accept that a family should have greater rights than children who are being neglected and abused.

Deputy Shatter leads the Fine Gael group in respect of matters relating to children. Any amendment will be meaningless unless reform is matched with resources and services. I believe the vast majority of our social workers work extremely hard but that they cannot cope with the workloads they face. Neither the level of training received prior to taking up a position nor the level of in-service training provided is necessarily enough in terms of assisting young people, with no life experiences, in dealing with the complexities of the cases before them.

A foster parent who comes into regular contact with the social work system recently told me that while new staff are enthusiastic and willing to bend over backwards and do all they can, they are often broken by the system and their workloads. She also said that despite this they visit her at all hours of the day and night, often at weekends and on bank holidays and that one of her social workers had offered her a personal loan to help her out while waiting for the HSE to issue her with a cheque.

I have spoken to many foster parents who stress the integrity of social workers but criticise the system. I will give an example of a system that is in crisis, is bureaucratic, cumbersome and full of different agencies. This example involves a young foster child, aged approximately eight or nine years, with extreme behavioural problems, described by social workers as among the worst they have ever seen. The foster mother was seeking a school placement for the child. The school would not accept the child unless the National Education and Psychological Service guaranteed support from the special needs service and so on. Staff at the school were afraid they would not get the help they needed to cope with the child, as had happened in other cases in the past. NEPS would not guarantee support unless the school accepted the child. The child, who is not even ten years old, has since left the foster family concerned and has been placed short term with another foster family with a view to being moved to residential care. His social workers tried their best but neither they nor the foster family could navigate the system.

We are all asking why various groups failed the family in Roscommon. The reality is that it is impossible for people to identify to whom they can turn. I know of a child, again with diagnosed behavioural problems, who was expelled from school last year and whose mother was trying to get him a place in another school. She had to deal with six different agencies, including the Department of Education and Science, the Health Service Executive, special education needs organiser, National Educational and Psychological Service, National Education and Welfare Board and home-school liaison and local politicians to get her child a place in a school, which she eventually did. It is unacceptable that people have to go through such hoops before they get what they need.

If we want to make this the final Irish family to be described as a watershed, we must act now on these issues. I welcome that the Government has finally decided to deal with the issue of soft information following publication of the report of the Oireachtas committee. However, I remind the Government — I thought a great deal about this issue over Christmas when the Cloyne situation was being discussed in the media — that in December 2003 Fine Gael brought before this House a motion, supported by the Labour Party and the Green Party, which is now a partner in Government, dealing with the issue of soft information. I am not suggesting we had all the answers. However, we outlined the criteria in regard to how this could be addressed. The relevant legislation was only published last Monday or Tuesday, some five years later. A lack of action is what is creating the watersheds that young people in this country must face.

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