Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy said, the report outlines a harrowing litany of abuses suffered by children at the hands of clergy operating under the aegis of the Dublin archdiocese. The report also made a number of comments on how the State acted with regard to allegations of abuse made against clergy members. The Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, Deputy Barry Andrews, and his officials will consider the Dublin report with a view to establishing what must be done in addition to what was planned for implementation in the plan developed by the Minister of State in response to the Ryan Commission report, published in May.

Concerns have been expressed about the statutory powers of the HSE to deal with child sexual abuse by non-family members. The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs will be consulting further with the Office of the Attorney General to seek clarity in that regard. It should be noted that the HSE has powers under section 3 of the Child Care Act 1991 to promote the welfare of children not receiving adequate care and protection. The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, in co-operation with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, has commenced the process of preparing heads of a Bill in respect of the use of soft information. Other Departments, An Garda Síochána and the HSE are being consulted on the draft heads.

Soft information is information available to authorities in respect of which the person to whom it relates has not been charged or convicted of a criminal offence. The proposed legislation on soft information will need to have regard to the constitutional rights of persons, including the rights to equality before the law, to a good name, to privacy and to earn a livelihood. It will also have to address the right to fair procedures and have regard to the European Convention on Human Rights.

A revised edition of the Children First guidelines is to be published shortly and the guidelines will be promulgated throughout the public service. In addition, the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is committed to the preparation of legislation to ensure that State employees and staff from key agencies in receipt of Exchequer funding and who are working with children will have a duty to comply with the Children First guidelines.

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