Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am taking the debate on behalf of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, who is attending a North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Armagh today. She regrets that she cannot be here.

I note that this debate stems from a report in today's The Irish Times on the Garda Inspectorate report on responding to child sexual abuse, which refers to a turf war between the HSE and An Garda Síochána on the issue of child sexual abuse cases. I wish to make it clear to the House at the outset that is no such turf war between the HSE and the Garda Síochána on this issue, nor is this contention contained in the report itself. The issue of child protection is one that the HSE and the Garda Síochána are totally committed to addressing in a co-operative manner.

I wish to place this issue in its proper context by quoting directly from the Garda Inspectorate report, Responding to Child Sexual Abuse.

The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) recognises that turf issues will inevitably arise when work begins on a multi-disciplinary response to child abuse. Turf issues are the result of each agency or professional group's identification of its own mandate, and the concerns that somehow the co-operation that is being sought will negatively affect this mandate. ... The important dynamic with turf issues is to recognise and confront them as they occur. Understanding why these issues have come to the forefront is key.

This statement clearly seeks to comment on so-called turf issues in the general sense and is not a statement aimed particularly at either the HSE or the Garda authorities. In addition the Garda Inspectorate report states, "There is no doubting the declared commitments of the (then) OMCYA, the Garda Síochána and the HSE to the protection of children from abuse".

The Garda Inspectorate report was prepared on foot of a direction from the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, following the publication of the commission of investigation's report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin in July 2009, issued on 26 November 2009. The report was published yesterday by the Minister for Justice and Equality. The purpose of the report was to conduct a comprehensive review of police practices for handling these very sensitive and important cases. In preparing the report, the inspectorate conducted a review of published reports relating to clerical sexual abuse but also considered the full spectrum of child sexual abuses perpetrated by a wide variety of offenders. The inspectorate states that only a holistic, collaborative approach by all statutory and voluntary agencies will make the difference that is required.

The Minister welcomes the report of the Garda Inspectorate and the response document. In particular she welcomes the emphasis throughout on the need for more effective inter-agency working in the area of child protection. This is an area which she considers critical as we progress a range of reforms necessary to strengthen the child welfare and protection system generally. In this regard, the Minister has published revised Children First guidance, the implementation of which is being overseen by an interdepartmental group including representatives of various Departments, the HSE and An Garda Síochána. There has also been good progress made in advancing preparatory work on the establishment of the new children and family support agency and on the preparation of legislation to underpin Children First.

The HSE has welcomed the report and noted the considerable progress which has been made since its preparation with regard to the development of child abuse services and in developing close liaison between the HSE and An Garda Síochána in a number of areas. The HSE children and family services are engaged in a major programme of reform. A major element of the change agenda in 2012 involves implementing consistent child protection procedures in line with the revised national guidelines which were published last year, namely, Children First 2011. As part of the drive to improve the response to child abuse, the HSE developed the child protection and welfare handbook, National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, which is a reference text for practitioners. This handbook was launched by the Minister with the HSE and An Garda Síochána. In addition, a programme of joint training involving HSE staff and members of An Garda Síochána on the implementation of Children First has been progressing since last year.

Let me reiterate that there is no turf war between the HSE and An Garda Síochána on this issue. Instead, we are now seeing real progress in implementing inter-agency working in the child protection area, something which was lacking for far too long.

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