Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The HSE has assured me that there will be a quick turnaround. I cannot give a stronger commitment than that.

In regard to Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's question on putting Children First on a statutory footing, there are a number of steps. Children First has been reissued and I will launch and publish it very soon. We need an implementation framework to ensure all the sectors which deal with children, whether education, health care or sport, are all up to speed on what Children First means, that they appoint Children First officers and that they understand their obligations.

As the Ombudsman for Children pointed out earlier this year, we have good guidelines but we do not implement them uniformly. We must also have an audit of how it is being implemented and then we will put it on a statutory footing. There is no point making something illegal unless we teach people how to comply with the law. It is a very complex area.

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