Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I did not interrupt the Minister of State and I ask him to please not interrupt me. I have limited time.

It continues to this day, and not just in the area of foster care. In the past few days I have received representations from a school that provides special education to children identified as severely emotionally and behaviourally disturbed. The children who attend this school have been identified by child and adolescent mental health teams as suffering from severe behavioural disorders, such as ADHD or ODD, and most come from disadvantaged backgrounds where they have been exposed to drugs, drink, abuse and neglect at home. These children are unable to attend mainstream education. The representatives of this school contacted Fine Gael because they are so concerned at the failure of the HSE to adequately respond to the needs of the children identified as being at risk. I want to draw three cases to the attention of the Minister of State, and I shall conclude on this if the Ceann Comhairle will allow me to do so, having been interrupted twice.

Child X is a student at the school, has been known to the HSE for at least four years and suffers from physical and emotional abuse and neglect at home. The school has made several referrals to the HSE, as required under the child protection guidelines. However, the response of the HSE has been so inadequate that the school has taken to telephoning the Garda every time the child presents with bruising. Recently the child presented with severe physical injuries, a broken arm, but has still not been taken into care.

Child Y is a ten year old student currently attending the school. It has been known by the teachers for some time that this child suffers from serious physical and emotional neglect at home, so much so that the school has to buy shoes for the child because there were so many holes in the last pair. The child's mother is understood to suffer from mental health problems and drug abuse. The father is understood to have subjected both the mother and children to domestic violence. Last December the child was diagnosed as having suicidal tendencies. Despite this, the child's mother refuses to interact with the school, even when the child was found standing on a tiny ledge on the roof of the school, where he put himself in severe danger. This child is crying out for help. He is known to both the mental health and social services. He desperately needs psychological help and intervention from the social services but the HSE is not providing it.

The final child is a 14 year old former student of the school. The parents of this child died from drug abuse in 2006 and 2007 and he has been in the State's care for the past three years. During his time in school, the child displayed severe behavioural difficulties, including violent outbursts in front of staff. The school has repeatedly tried to access help and has had regular meetings with social workers but no therapeutic intervention has taken place. Two years ago the child had to be suspended indefinitely pending such intervention being put in place by the HSE but this has not been done. For the past two years this child has drifted from one care home to another and is currently understood to be homeless. He is known to have suffered medical seizures from consumption of head shop products, further highlighting the inadequacies of the child care services.

I appreciate the Ceann Comhairle giving me leeway, and I will tell the Minister of State the name of the school involved. I am telling him, as I have had to do on other occasions in this House, that these are three children who are today being failed by our child care services, which are grossly dysfunctional, unco-ordinated, have no modern communication systems, possess a managerial structure that is grossly inadequate. The appointment of some additional supremo will not resolve the problem.

I asking the Minister of State to intervene in the interests of these children and I believe he is wrong in his conclusion. We will only have a properly functioning child care and protection service when this function is taken away from the HSE and given to a body with the expertise and commitment to properly exercise it.

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