Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

To answer Deputy Shatter's question on the numbers, DF and TF were counted as one case; I consider them to be two cases. I am aware of two additional cases which were not in the original 20 cases mentioned by Mr. Garland this morning and which are due to be published. They were the 5th and 6th ongoing cases to which I referred today. One of these was a death in 2007 from an overdose on which the review is near completion. The other was a death in July 2009 of an overdose and as this is more recent a date for completion is not to hand.

The Department has four reported cases including the DF and TF cases. With regard to cases where no further action was deemed necessary I referred to one involving a death in 2003 of an overdose where the report was completed. At that time, the individual was in the care of the north-eastern health board and the covering letter which accompanied the HSE report stated a copy was being provided under confidential cover and that the contents of the report included reference of a sensitive nature to the deceased, his extended family and in particular his younger sister who was a minor in care. It advised that the report and the information contained in it were privileged. In the current dispensation that would not be allowed to be the end of the matter. I might clarify that later. The last of the four I have in my possession relates to a death in 2000. I pointed out it had been the subject of a parliamentary question tabled by Deputy Dan Neville in 2003. The individual had been seen on the tragic day of death by a clinical psychologist.

On the question of how many minors have absconded from foster care-----

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