Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I want to raise an issue I raised last night concerning the case of a young 16 year old Chinese girl who came to Cork on 22 January on a flight from Barcelona. She had false documentation and the Garda and immigration officers at the airport correctly stopped her and put her into HSE care. She spent her first two nights, which were over a weekend, in what has been described as emergency foster care in Carrigaline, County Cork. A social worker with the HSE and the children's services were supervising and supporting her over that weekend. She was then removed to what are referred to as "supported lodgings" in Carrigaline for 25 and 26 January and then she disappeared. This is the most recent case of a child disappearing while in the care of the State and the first time this has happened to a foreign national in my constituency or Cork city.

I examined this particular case and asked how it could be allowed to happen, the lessons that could be learned and what is being done to find the girl. I looked at websites such as www.missingkids.com. One should consider the number of young Chinese girls who have gone missing. The Minister of State, Deputy Moloney, acknowledged this problem last night. Seven girls, who were 16 or 17 when they came to Ireland, have gone missing from their accommodation, mostly in Dublin. The case of Ms Li Chen, which occurred in Cork, is the most recent. On 25 December 2009, a 17 year old girl, again from China, went missing from her accommodation in the Dublin area. A 17 year old girl, now 18, went missing from her accommodation in Dublin 6 on 20 August 2009. A girl, again a Chinese national, went missing from her accommodation in Dublin 7 on 20 June 2009. A 16 year old Chinese national, now aged 17, went missing from her accommodation in north Dublin city on 7 June 2009. On 18 April 2009, a 17 year old from China went missing from her accommodation in the Dublin 7 area. On 13 March 2009, Ms Ai Jiao, a 16 year old girl, now 17, left her accommodation at 6 p.m. and never returned.

I have serious concerns about the support structures and procedures in place for taking into care unaccompanied minors, or children, who come to Ireland, illegally or legally. So many 15 year olds, 16 year olds and 17 year olds, and younger children, have gone missing while in the care of the state, and not just in the past 12 months. From the figures I received last night, I understand 47 minors disappeared from State care last year. Only 13 of these have been located since.

Irrespective of whether a missing child is a 16 year old from China or a 16 year old from Cork or Roscommon, that we can stand over his or her literally disappearing into what is potentially an underworld, be it the sex industry or a kitchen or restaurant for the purpose of work, is totally unacceptable. It is unacceptable that the State and the agencies operating under the control of the Government which are responsible for children cannot put procedures in place that are more effective than those in place at present.

I spent quite some time yesterday talking to the HSE about the Li Chen case. It was open regarding all the procedures that were put in place and maintains it met the standards expected of it on the basis of the protocols and procedures that are in place. If this is the case, the procedures need to be reviewed. We need to learn lessons from what has happened and, most important, ensure everything is being done to locate the children.

In the Li Chen case, the Garda applied all the standard protocols that apply when children go missing and has done all that can be expected of it. However, that is not really the issue; the issue is that we do not know what has happened to dozens of missing children. They may have been exploited, advantage may have been taken of them or perhaps they have simply run away. That we do not know is not acceptable.

There would be a political outcry if we could not answer hard questions as to what happened an Irish child who went missing. How someone can simply vanish from State care on the main street of Carrigaline when she does not speak English, has no money and no official identity documents is simply beyond me. This is not a question of blaming anybody but about trying to establish what happened and learn lessons from it. It is a matter of putting new procedures in place to ensure it will not recur and, most important, doing everything we physically can to establish the location of the children. Many of them are now 18 because they came to Ireland at the age of 16 or 17 but that is not the point. The point is that they may well be in the basement of a brothel or have been trafficked to another destination.

I do not want to exaggerate for effect but really believe the Government must take this issue very seriously. We need to examine how we protect, support and defend the interests of children that enter this State, as well as our own children, in a way that is consistent and far more effective than that evident at present.

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