Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I have no intention of making a political issue out of this; it is far too serious and sensitive for that. The request that Deputies Kenny, Ó Caoláin and I have made is that time be made available in the House for the Minister of State with responsibility for children, Deputy Barry Andrews, to tell us the state of play in regard to this report. As Deputy Kenny said, we need to know when the children died and when the report was commenced. I do not understand why - and there may be a good reason for it - there is a queue of reports about children who died over a ten-year period. Why are those reports not yet complete? If there is a reason for that, I would like to hear what it is. My party would like to be in a position to probe that further.

I would also like to know about any recommendations arising from this. Is it the case that the investigations that were conducted by the Health Service Executive into these deaths have not yet produced recommendations arising from the handling of the cases? If there were recommendations, it is important that we hear what they are, whether they have been implemented and what type of practice now applies. We should remember that, arising of the report of the all-party committee, we are preparing to have a referendum on the rights of children in this country. These are precisely the types of hard cases that will be the subject of debate and discussion during the course of that referendum.

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