Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

Some 50 recommendations were made, all of which were very sensible and, as the Minister of State said, some of which were made before in other instances. Can the Minister of State tell me how many recommendations have been implemented? One is the introduction of a national common assessment framework without delay for all child welfare and protection cases which needs to identify core components while allowing for flexibility. It is recognised that any such framework will need to be reviewed and updated as knowledge and practice develops and changes. If one does not have that, then the service will be as the Roscommon case has thrown up - patchy, in some places delivered well and in some places not delivered at all.

Another recommendation - I am merely picking two and am not even going into the issue of who is responsible for all of this - states a specialised child sexual abuse unit or team should be put in place in each HSE region to build up expertise and experience in assessment and to act as a centre of excellence when front-line workers require advice, and therapeutic treatment services should also be available for children who had been sexually abused.

Will any of the two of these, in particular, the sexual abuse unit, fall now to embargoes? Are we assured that all of these recommendations will be put in place and how many have been put in place to date?

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