Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

There are references to legislative deficiencies here and they may exist. The 1908 Act was drafted at a time when it could not be envisaged that a mother could inflict such abuse on her children. This abuse is not ring-fenced according to gender, geography or class. I know from social workers that terrible abuse takes place in some of the best resourced families in the country from time to time. If we are to put in place the appropriate State mechanisms, recognising that no matter how many resources and how much law we have, there will always be the potential in Ireland, as there is in other countries, even those that share our values, for parents in a minority of cases to abuse their children. This mechanism with the people involved will deliver speedy answers so we can get the facts and very quickly learn from them.

The Minister of State with responsibility in this area, Deputy Barry Andrews, has my full confidence. Not only is he a father and the Minister of State with responsibility for children, he is a barrister and before that he was a teacher. He brings to this job a passion for child protection and I have every confidence that working with the authorities, whether the HSE or the other authorities that have responsibility for children, we will have in place in Ireland an appropriate regime that will guarantee our children the safety and protection they deserve.

See this speech in context