John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, who unfortunately cannot be present to respond.

The Health Service Executive is required under the Child Care Act 1991 to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection. Where a child requires care or protection that he or she is unlikely to receive unless the child is taken into care, the Health Service Executive must take the child into its care and provide the most appropriate form of alternative care for that child.

With regard to statistics, there are over 5,300 children in the care of the HSE. Over 92% of these children are placed with foster families, with the remaining children placed in residential settings. During the period 2000 to date, there was a total of 21 deaths of children in the care of the HSE. The causes of death were as follows: three deaths by suicide; two deaths by assault; two deaths by road traffic accident; five drug-related deaths; and nine deaths from medical issues.

In regard to the other statistics sought by Deputy Shatter, the Health Service Executive is in the process of compiling the information requested. The Deputy will appreciate that due to the length of the period covered by the request, it will, of necessity, take some time to compile as material will have to be retrieved from the archives. However, every effort will be made to gather the data requested and to submit it to the Deputy within a reasonable timeframe.

The death of any child in care is a serious matter and requires careful and detailed consideration. Prior to the establishment of the HSE in 2005, individual health boards had procedures in place for dealing with deaths of children in care. I understand that as part of an ongoing process of standardisation the HSE is currently reviewing its procedures for dealing with deaths of children in its care, and a high level group in the HSE has been delegated to oversee the development of standard protocols for this area.

The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is in regular contact with the Health Service Executive in regard to the status of any reviews, inquiries or investigations which are currently being undertaken on individual cases. I can assure the Deputy that the Department of Health and Children is monitoring and will continue to monitor the implementation of any recommendations arising from such reviews and inquiries. The Department will also continue to raise these matters at the regular meetings held between senior officials of the Health Service Executive and the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs on child welfare and protection issues.

The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is participating in an initiative undertaken by the Office of the Ombudsman for Children regarding the possible establishment in this country of a child death review mechanism. A high level seminar was hosted by the Office of the Ombudsman for Children in April 2008. The items considered at the seminar included current practice in Ireland, the objectives of child death review, child death review methodologies and operational considerations.

The Office of the Ombudsman for Children has also recently prepared a child death review options paper. As well as providing the background to the process to date, the paper outlines human rights considerations, options around individual reviews of child death and relevant research. The paper notes that "international experience differs on the relative value of individual case review as opposed to an approach to child death which examines broader trends at a demographic level". The paper goes on to state, "it may be that in certain instances child deaths do not give rise to wider systemic concerns and reviewing them will therefore not enhance our understanding of what makes children vulnerable". In its conclusions, the paper states that the impetus for the initiative stems from the belief that the establishment of a system would lead to a deeper understanding of the factors which render children vulnerable. I understand that the Ombudsman for Children has written to the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Health and Children to inform it of developments in this regard and intends to share the options paper and other documentation with it in the near future.

In conclusion, I reiterate the Government's commitment to address the crucial challenge of protecting the most vulnerable members of our society. When families fail children for whatever reason, the children must be protected by society and the State, which is a complex and difficult task.

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