Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

On the question of a possible constitutional amendment on children, given that two distinct views emerged in the joint committee's report - on constitutional amendment and legislative options - and that the committee has not been able to reconcile these views and accordingly is unable to make an agreed recommendation, the Government must examine the divergent standpoints emanating from the report with a view to progressing this important issue.

In the coming weeks, the committee will concentrate its deliberations on family law matters as set out in the proposed Articles 42(A).1, 42(A).2, 42(A).3 and 42(A).4 in the Twenty-eighth Amendment to the Constitution Bill 2007 dealing with the rights of children, intervention by the State where parents have failed in their responsibility towards children, involuntary and voluntary adoption of children and taking the best interests of the child into account in certain court proceedings. The committee's deadline for reporting back to the Oireachtas is 16 December. The Government will need to consider the implications of the committee's second interim report and its forthcoming report on the family law aspects of the Twenty-eighth Amendment to the Constitution Bill 2007 before determining its standpoint on a referendum.

On the specific question on the Ballydowd special care unit being closed, it is a good example of the accountability of HIQA being effective. We established the Health Information and Quality Authority and gave it the statutory mandate to ensure that care standards are maintained to a standard we would expect. Where there is a failure to do so alternative arrangements have to be made. If we did not have HIQA perhaps we would not have that report and if we did not have that report perhaps the fact that changes have to be made at that facility would not have been brought to our attention. Moving from the facility will take place over the coming two to four months and discussions are ongoing on reducing the adverse impact of this. All HSE vetting is now centralised.

When we establish mechanisms such as this it must never be on the presumption that everything works fine. Where difficulties are identified action needs to be taken; that is the principle of accountability at work. What is damning our politics is this notion of perfectionism, that everything is correct and if anything turns out to be incorrect it means the whole thing is not working correctly. It is time for us to recognise that there is much good work being done by professional people working with people in this area. It is a difficult area but where there are difficulties and issues are not being dealt with properly decisions are taken to rectify the matter. That is an exercise in democratic accountability.

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