Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Is the Minister of State telling the House that as a result of his intervention, the HSE has failed by the end of March 2009 to publish its report on the workings of the child protection services for the year ending 31 December 2007? Is he in a position to tell the House how many children were taken into care in 2007? Such information would be contained in this report if it were published. Is the Minister of State in a position to tell the House how many children, either at the end of 2007 or at the end of 2008, were reported to be at risk but whose family circumstances had not been comprehensively investigated and whose case had not been expressly referred to a social worker? Can he explain to the House how, in the absence of up-to-date statistics and background information on the workings of the child protection services, it is possible to assess the efficiency of those services, the extent to which they truly provide children with the protection they require or to determine what new initiatives may be required to improve those services?

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