Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I will take six of the ten minutes. This afternoon's debate will only be an hour long and we need much more time in the House to deal with the issue. There is a significant matter relating to the credibility of the State in protecting the most vulnerable of children in the care of the State.

The information which has come into the public arena is that there are 20 cases relating to the deaths of children in the care of the State and about which various inquiries have been made. Essentially, we do not know the circumstances of these cases, despite the limited information given today by the Minister of State with responsibility for children. Having read the case which has been laid the Oireachtas Library and seen some of the detail of what happened in that child's life before she died at an untimely age, there must be significant concern among the public and among us as public representatives as to what exactly is going on in the underbelly of Irish life where children are at such risk. The child in this case had her teeth knocked out at seven, was twice pregnant, was subject to drug use and was in and out of a variety of residences. She was entirely failed by the State.

This is just one case but there are many others. We know there are thousands of young people at risk who have not even been allocated a social worker. I listened to Ms Laverne McGuinness's comments today at the Committee of Public Accounts and to what has been said publicly. The HSE has indicated the 47 recommendations either have been or are being implemented, with care plans in place for children at risk. If some of them - up to thousands of children - have not been allocated social workers, how can there be care plans?

We must shed more light on this area. I share the concern expressed by Deputy Shatter as to what authority the State and more specifically the Minister has in this regard. We must put this information into the public arena, although there are obvious sensitivities and a need for protection of identities etc. There are also legal concerns.

None of these reports was published until this one was laid in the public arena yesterday. People must have a question of trust and credibility when the reports have not been published.

Would the HSE have published this report and the other report if it had not been prompted to do so? The Minister of State made the point that there are no further actions to be taken in respect of children who died of overdoses. We need public information and transparency. If a child in care died of an overdose, surely there has to be further action and more information put into the public arena. We have to know about these things before we can learn from them and ensure we protect children in future.

We will have an opportunity to ask questions, but serious questions need to be asked now about the facilities currently in existence for children in the care of the State, especially for adolescent children. Many of these children lead and have led chaotic lives. We need to know exactly how they are being protected and what kind of staffing is there. I understand that the HSE uses private organisations to look after some of the children. Some of them are obviously in foster care and some of them are cared for directly by the State. There is a unit in my own constituency called Coovagh House with only two or three children in it. Those children have very challenging behaviour problems, but this is an extremely costly unit for such a small number of children, yet there is a large number of children at risk on whose care the State does not spend much money. We have very little information on what is going on with the care of those young people.

This can only be the start of the debate on the issue. Much more light must be shed and there are many vulnerable children in the care of the State about whom we know very little. We now know the sad story of one young person, but there are many others out there and it is our duty as public representatives to ensure that we get the information we need, that the required protection is put in place, and that the Minister of State has the appropriate power to do that. If we do not learn from these tragedies, we will repeat them with these very vulnerable children over and over again.

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