Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

In bringing the Health (Amendment) Bill before this House, I do so on the basis that all Members share the common view that the work of the independent review group on child deaths is of the utmost importance and urgency. The publication of the Bill last Friday fulfilled the Government's commitment to act decisively to progress the work of the group through enabling legislation. I am now seeking the support of Deputies for the Bill to ensure that it is passed into law before the summer recess.

The Bill is short and focused and has been referred to in this House and elsewhere as emergency legislation. It certainly is the case that its principal purpose is to make certain that the work of the independent review group can proceed in an expeditious manner by addressing the legal difficulties that constrained the handing over of case files by the Health Service Executive. There is also a more general information dimension to the Bill and that relates to ensuring that the HSE keeps the Minister fully informed on all matters of which he or she needs to be aware in a timely and appropriate manner. I will set out the specific measures in the Bill, in greater detail, later in this statement.

How we care for our children helps defines us as a society. It is the hallmark of a caring society that it strives to do the best it can for all its children. Within the Government, I carry a particular responsibility to protect and advance the rights of children. This is especially so when, for whatever reasons, vulnerable children become known to the child protection services or are placed in care. The death of any child is never a statistic. It is a tragedy and an emotional and deeply upsetting time for the family. When such a death occurs while the child is in the care of the State, there is an onus on the State to act. The circumstances surrounding the death must be comprehensively examined not simply out of respect to the young person concerned and his or her family but also to prevent, wherever possible, similar tragic occurrences and to improve our overall care and protection arrangements.

The House will be aware that I established the independent review group on child deaths on 8 March 2010. The group is comprised of Ms Norah Gibbons and Mr Geoffrey Shannon. A third person of international standing will be appointed when the existing members have completed an initial examination of documentation provided by the HSE. The group was asked by me to examine existing information on deaths of children in care and first to validate the categorisation of children who died from natural and non-natural causes. In respect of those children who died from non-natural causes, the group has been asked to examine existing reviews and reports prepared by the HSE or others on their behalf and based upon this information to provide, on an anonymised basis, key summary information regarding each child and the circumstances leading up to his or her death. The review will focus in particular on the relevant involvement of State services with the child and his or her family and examine the strengths and weaknesses of such involvement. The group is also to make recommendations on how child protection services can be strengthened in so far as learning can be identified from the reports and reviews completed. I consider this review to be very necessary and it is imperative that the group be in a position to fully discharge its remit.

To date, the group has been furnished with some preliminary information by the HSE regarding the deaths of children in care over the past ten years, young adults up to 21 years of age who were in the care of the HSE in the period immediately prior to their 18th birthday or who were in receipt of aftercare services under section 45 of the Child Care Act 1991, as well as on a third category, children known to the child protection system. However, to complete its task, the review group needs access to individual case files. This has not proven possible to date in light of legal concerns identified by the HSE relating to the provision of information to the group.

The Taoiseach outlined to the House on 26 May 2010 the nature of the legal advice to the HSE. Concerns were identified regarding the in camera rule, which in child care proceedings is concerned primarily with the protection of the identity and privacy of the individual child, section 31 of the Child Care Act 1991, which imposes a prohibition that can be lifted with the approval of the courts on the publication or broadcasting of matters which might lead the public to identify a particular child that has been the subject of proceedings under certain parts of that Act, data protection legislation which regulates the collection, use and disclosure of personal information relating to living identifiable individuals and categorises health information as sensitive and therefore deserving of additional protection and finally, the issue of consent to the disclosure of personal or confidential information, including, as appropriate, the consent of surviving relatives.

In order to address the legal issues concerned, which are complex in nature, the Office of the Attorney General has worked closely with the Department of Health and Children in preparing the Bill to ensure that the legislation meets its policy objectives. The point is sometimes made that the legal problems and delays encountered with the release of files to the independent review group could have been avoided if the review had been carried out by the HSE itself or under its auspices. While the delay is very much regretted, I have no regrets about establishing an external independent review. Indeed, since I established the group, events have demonstrated clearly that only an independent and transparent review process offers any possibility of rebuilding public trust in our child care system. We now for the first time have national data from the HSE to indicate how many children died while in State care or where they had been in contact with the care system. We need the review group to examine this information more closely to establish the facts and to ensure that the learning from reviews conducted is shared.

The overall purpose of the Bill is to strengthen the legislative base for the provision of information by the Health Service Executive to the Minister for Health and Children so as to enhance the Minister's ability to fulfil his or her role and functions, including political accountability to the Oireachtas, and to create a safe channel of communication for sensitive information from the HSE to the Minister. It does this in the following ways. First, it places a duty on the executive to provide information on its own initiative and without delay to the Minister. Second, it gives the Minister power to require in the public interest detailed information and documents from the executive free of legal prohibition and to use such information and documents as necessary for the performance of his or her functions. Third, it also allows persons appointed by the Minister to undertake reviews etc. to similarly use such information and documents. Before going into the detailed provisions of the Bill, Members will be aware that the legislation will cover the entire remit of the executive. This is to make certain that a similar situation to the present one could not arise in providing information to the Minister or persons conducting reviews etc. on behalf of the Minister in any area of health and personal social services covered by the executive, such as, for example, the care of the elderly.

The Bill contains two sections. Section 1 is the substantive provision and section 2 sets out the Short Title and collective citation. Section 1 of the Bill inserts a new Part, Part 7A, furnishing of information and documents, into the Health Act 2004. This explains the numbering of the provisions in the Bill, that is, it is proposed they become sections 40A to 40F of the Health Act 2004. Section 40A provides a definition of "document" so as to ensure that it is wide-ranging enough for the purposes of the Bill. A "document'" means a book, record or other written or printed material, a photograph, any information kept in a mechanical or electronic device, and any audio or video recording.

See this speech in context