Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour)

I echo the words of my Labour Party colleagues in welcoming the Minister's commitment in this area. We are very fortunate to have a Minister responsible for children and who has practice experience. As a practitioner, I believe there has been a void in this regard.

The HSE has committed to providing an aftercare service for the vulnerable people but the reality is that there is no consistency in how it is applied throughout the country. It is often personality driven and ad hoc, which is not good enough. The Minister has committed on the floor of the House today to ensuring regulations will be introduced, if required. This is to be commended.

This Government is different from its predecessor because it has a vision on how to deal with children. There was a void in regard to child protection during the term of the last Government and there was no talk of establishing a child protection agency. The current Government has a vision; it knows where it is going and knows what it wants to do. The issue has been kicked down the road by many Governments over the years. We are committed to looking after vulnerable young people and ensuring the provision of quality aftercare. As matters stand, an aftercare worker could be assigned to a child but this would not imply the child is receiving a service. The Minister is committing, therefore, to ensuring we find out what is taking place and how children are being cared for. This is one of the strongest statements one can make, particularly in respect of an area that has been neglected in recent years.

We are very lucky to have a full Ministry for children for the first time in the State, and to have a Minister with practice experience and knowledge of this issue, which is broad and difficult to tackle. The partners in the Government are committed to dealing with this issue over the coming years.

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