Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill and I thank the Minister of State for his contribution which outlined the principles behind it. The points I wish to raise will not be new to him and I commend him on taking an interest in them. He is the first Minister of State I have encountered who has taken a genuine interest in the issue of separated children. These children are in HSE care and in residential facilities.

When we talk about legislation which will put new provisions in place for the care of very vulnerable children and children coming from very difficult circumstances, it is important we review what is going on currently in regard to vulnerable children in the care of and who are the responsibility of the HSE. The agency has failed to acknowledge its failures in the care of separated children. I question how we can introduce more legislation giving further responsibility to the HSE when it has failed hundreds if not thousands of children in the system.

Going over some notes before coming into the House, I came across an article from June of this year which highlights the problem we face. The headline read: "Missing Minors traced to Chinese Restaurateur." The article stated: "Gardaí are to recommend a wealthy Chinese restaurateur be charged with the trafficking of several Chinese children who disappeared from state care at accommodation hostels for unaccompanied boys and girls in the past few years."

Gardaí had raided three restaurants in July 2009, including a very popular high end restaurant, after receiving intelligence that some 34 missing children had been in contact with this particular businessman. I commend the Garda Síochána on the work it has been doing in that case and many others which are extremely complex.

The gardaí in this particular case had identified that the individual had not paid tax since he had opened his restaurant in 2002. That, in itself, raises other issues that must be addressed regarding the resources and the focus that has been put by the Revenue Commissioners on some of these operations. As we are aware, it can be very difficult to secure convictions for trafficking but there are other ways people can be prosecuted under other legislation. I raise that case because there are huge difficulties in securing convictions in regard to the victims of trafficking, especially children who are being trafficked.

I raise a case going back to 2008 that I have raised here on numerous occasions regarding a young Nigerian lady, Joy Imifidon, who was picked up in a brothel in Kilkenny city. She came before the courts in July of that year. In court the detective garda who was investigating the case stated: "We are worried that she may be a minor and a victim of human trafficking." The judge in the case said that there was a possibility that the woman was in fact a minor and was vulnerable. She was brought to the Dochas Centre in Mountjoy Prison. She came back before the courts, was placed in the care of the Health Service Executive and subsequently disappeared from that HSE accommodation. In terms of her disappearance, no charge has been made or conviction secured in respect of the brothel in question regarding the trafficking of children for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

My point is that not only are we ignoring these children and leaving them in very vulnerable positions but we are also allowing the abusers to get away scot free because we are putting the children back into the same dangerous position from which they came. It allows the traffickers to pick up the children again and re-traffic them. As a result of that it is extremely difficult to secure convictions and without securing convictions this country will never be able to send out a message that this jurisdiction has a strong and severe attitude in terms of prosecutions for people involved in the exploitation of children.

Child trafficking is a reprehensible business but, sadly, it is on the increase. As the Minister is aware, the statistics that have been provided to me by the HSE clearly show that the trend has been growing in recent years and that is has not been reducing. Report after report has been produced regarding the use of Ireland as a springboard into industries that are involved in the exploitation of children either for labour or sexual exploitation.

A report was produced which stated that the easiest trafficking route into the United Kingdom for children is through Ireland. One particular report pointed out that since 2004, some 330 children have been known to have been trafficked into the UK through various routes via Ireland. That is believed to be only the tip of the iceberg yet this issue has been ignored continually by the HSE. The HSE has stated that many of these children have been rescued from desperate circumstances, yet it took until earlier this year for the HSE to even publicly acknowledge that there is a problem with the way it is caring for those particular children.

The legislation before the House is providing for a special care order and gives control of the care of the child to the Health Service Executive. In effect, the HSE is taking on the role and responsibility of a parent. I must question whether the HSE is the organisation to do that when a report from the Ombudsman for Children has been critical of the way separated migrant children have been treated in care and the fact that more than 500 separated children have gone missing from HSE provided accommodation since 2000, over 440 of whom still remain missing, and no one is asking what happened to those children and what is being done to address that problem.

Since taking office the Minister of State has begun to implement policy to ensure that the hostel accommodation currently in place for these children will cease by the end of this year. The Minister, in his response, might update the House on the progress he has made in that regard. I hope that significant progress has been made.

The Minister of State is also aware that there is a commitment in the national children's strategy to appoint a guardian for separated children because the reality is that no one is asking questions when these children disappear. If a guardian is appointed who is prepared to ask the tough questions of the HSE, the practice of these children disappearing into thin air might cease once and for all.

The policy has been put in place, and I acknowledge the work the Garda and the HSE have done in establishing a protocol for children who go missing but that protocol was to be reviewed last October. The last time I checked with the HSE the review had not even commenced. That does not show the level of priority that should exist in regard to 500 children going missing from HSE accommodation.

That is the reality of what is happening currently regarding HSE run and supervised accommodation. Children are disappearing from that accommodation. A commitment should be given to put protocols in place to ensure that when those children go missing, the gardaí are informed. It is surprising that the gardaí are not informed in some cases but that is the reality of what has happened and, as the Minister is well aware, of the 500 children who have disappeared, some of them are not even on the missing children website run by the Garda. The Garda Ombudsman has highlighted that specific issue and has said that an explanation should be provided as to the reason those children are not on the missing children website. We still have not had an explanation in that regard. Twelve months after that review was supposed to have happened, I am not sure it has taken place or whether the changes have been implemented.

I am still for waiting for answers to questions I submitted last July on the issue of separated children. This is not acceptable. We are being asked in this Bill to give more powers to the HSE, similar powers to those it has with regard to separated children, despite the fact it has failed that cohort of children. One must ask whether the HSE should be given the authority to take responsibility for children who are extremely troubled, come from difficult backgrounds and will require a significant amount of care and attention when children from vulnerable situations outside of this country who arrive and present themselves on our shores evaporate into thin air or end up in brothels where they are abused. Gardaí pick them up in these situations and they go before the courts and the judge, who believe they are vulnerable children who have disappeared from HSE provided accommodation. Serious questions must be asked in that regard.

As the Minister of State is aware, last December 12 months he gave me a commitment in this House that he would deal with the issue. I accept his bona fides on the issue, but in the six months following that commitment more children had gone missing than had gone missing in the previous 12 months, but towards the end of the year matters improved. Hopefully, when I eventually get the statistics for the current year - whenever the HSE decides to give them to me - we will find that the situation has improved this year.

The Minister of State mentioned in his contribution the appointment of a guardian ad litem and how important that is with regard to care and provision for children, to ensure their best interests are protected. He also mentioned that he is committed to the appointment of a guardian or adviser for migrant children, but this person may not have the same legal standing as mentioned in this Bill. That does not make a significant difference. What we need to ensure is that an advocate is appointed who will ask the questions, such as should a vulnerable migrant child disappear from HSE accommodation. We need to have someone who will ask the questions and find out what is being done to find such children and ensure their best interests are protected. The skin pigment of the child should not matter. If the child is vulnerable, he or she must be protected, must have adequate legal representation and have suitable care accommodation, education, language support and health care provision. This is crucial.

The HSE's record with regard to these vulnerable children has been appalling, yet we are now being asked to give additional powers to the HSE in the matter of another vulnerable cohort of children in this country. Two wrongs do not make a right. There is an onus and responsibility on the HSE to get its act together with regard to children for whom it already has overall responsibility on a day to day basis. The HSE is de facto the parent of those children and should surely get its act together in that regard before it takes on additional powers. I question whether the HSE should take over this role and look forward to the Minister of State's response.

I would also like a response from the Minister of State on the issue of children who were, in the past, placed in psychiatric hospitals. Some of those children with an intellectual disability still remain in psychiatric hospitals. I hope expedient progress is being made that will deal once and for all with this situation and that we create an effective inspectorate to deal with residential facilities for all persons with a disability. A number of children with profound intellectual disabilities are in residential care and it is important their rights are protected and that they are not left vulnerable to exploitation just because they cannot put the questions or advocate for themselves. Previous speakers mentioned the lack of an adequate out-of-hours service and we have had numerous examples of situations where the system has failed to provide social service supports that back up the Garda Síochána. The Garda is not a child minding service for vulnerable children.

With regard to the issues raised concerning the children to be provided for by this Bill, it is pointless to enact this legislation unless there is a clear commitment that the required resources will be put in place. In the current economic climate, it is difficult to see how the Government will implement the provisions unless it provides a specific ring-fenced budget to ensure the legislation is implemented. It is important the resources are made available for this cohort of children from challenging backgrounds. As we all know, if we do not deal with the issues raised, the cost to society will be astronomical. It makes more sense in the short term to deal with the challenging behaviour of these individuals rather than leave it to be dealt with by the prison system down the road.

An issue that came to a head this past summer is the issue of the children who were used in vaccine trials in the 1960s and 1970s while in residential care. As we are aware, this issue was referred to the Laffoy commission, but because of court determinations the commission did not investigate it. However, the Department and the commission has a significant amount of documentation relating to the vaccine trials that took place and the background to those trials. I have raised this issue at length previously, but I urge the Minister of State to contact the officials involved in the Department and ensure that all of the available documentation regarding the trials is put into the public domain. If, for some reason, some of the information cannot be put into the public domain, the Minister of State should, perhaps, allow a senior counsel to review all of the files and produce a report. This would help provide some answers regarding the exploitation of those children. The issue arose in the public domain during the summer. All these people want are answers and explanations. That is the least they deserve.

See this speech in context