Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Time should be provided today for the Minister of State with responsibility for children to come to the House and report to it on this matter. We need to address a number of issues. As Deputy Kenny stated, we have been told that 20 children died while in State care over the past decade and that there are a number of HSE reports relating to those deaths. We should hear a full statement on what reports are outstanding in the HSE and why they have not been published to date. There is a distinction to be drawn between the delays occasioned by the HSE itself and delays in the publication of the report arising as a result of sensitive issues contained in the report which relate to the children and their families. That distinction has to be made. We need to have political accountability on this matter. Time needs to be set aside today for the Minister of State with responsibility for children to make a statement to the House, answer questions and provide the answers Members of this House and the public are seeking as to why those reports have been delayed and what was going on. More important, we need to look not just at what happened in the past but at what is happening currently, to examine the extent to which there might still be children in State care who are at risk and what steps are being taken to address that.

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