Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

On promised legislation, there was one thing the Tánaiste said in reply to me that should be clarified. In the context of the promised social welfare Bill that will emerge from the budget, that Bill is usually not published until the following February. Is the Tánaiste indicating to the House that there is a possibility the Bill will be published immediately after the budget and guillotined in the House before Christmas?

If that is the case, having guillotined the NAMA Bill today, could the Tánaiste indicate to us if the second programme for Government between Fianna Fáil and the Green Party has been abandoned in the context of any promised Dáil reform? Guillotining the NAMA Bill today flies in the face of any commitment to such reform.

The Minister of State with responsibility for children has promised to publish a Bill to give statutory effect to the Children First child protection guidelines that have been in place since 1999 but which have no statutory footing. The HSE published a report yesterday to show that even in 2008, with all we have learned about children at risk and child abuse, there has been an abject failure by the HSE to ensure their employees comply with the Children First guidelines. A total of 24,668 children were reported in 2008 to be at risk but only 15,364 had their circumstances assessed, leaving more than 9,000 reported to be at risk ignored by the HSE. It is urgent that the child protection guidelines are given statutory effect. Could the Tánaiste ask the Minister of State to prioritise this and not leave it until the end of 2010 or 2011, and that this Bill be published as soon as possible?

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