Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Will the Minister tell the House what consideration of any nature was given by the Department or those operating under its aegis to the welfare of the child in the period between when the child was removed from the mother in Dublin Airport and the mother being deported on 1 September? When was it learned that the District Court had determined in the interests of the welfare of the child that he should not be deported? What consideration, if any, did the Minister give to the interests of the welfare of this child that the deportation of the mother be at least postponed?

In the context of the very solemn and magisterial speech the Minister delivered this day two weeks ago on the steps of Government Buildings on the launch of the Murphy commission report, when he stated that no agency or institution is above the law, did he give any consideration to the various obligations under the Child Care Act to ensure that any intervention in respect of a child is based on that child's welfare? Is he aware that, at great cost to the State, the child in question has been traumatised for four months by virtue of having four different sets of foster parents and three sets of social workers and has been the subject of five unplanned moves under the aegis of the HSE? Is he aware that the child is currently in the care of temporary foster parents?

Does the Minister accept that children of four do not make decisions to defy deportation orders? Does he also accept that it is utterly contrary to the interests or welfare of a child that he should be taken from his mother at Dublin Airport and that she be kept from him and then deported at a time when the Irish courts determined that it was contrary to the child's welfare that he should be deported? Does the Minister agree that there is a need for joined-up thinking and a coherent policy with regard to children in such circumstances?

See this speech in context