Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

I absolutely agree that Garda stations are not the place for young children in need of care. However, I wish to pay tribute to the work done by gardaí who are dealing with this issue. I have met their representatives who have expressed their concerns to me. That is why it is important we had two pilot projects last year. We had different models in Cork and Donegal, with a different response. We are awaiting the evaluation of these responses which we will have shortly. I hope the next time we discuss this issue on the floor of the House I will be in a position to get back to the Deputy with the national model we will use for the roll-out of services throughout the country, for which I have allowed funding in this year's budget.

This is an extremely important issue which has gone on for far too long. I pay tribute to the emergency place of safety service which the Garda can access. Most of the young children being brought to its attention receive a place in a foster family, which is really important. It is happening quickly, but nevertheless, young children can have the experience of having to spend some hours in a Garda station inappropriately in these circumstances. We want to stop this practice as quickly as we can. It has gone on for years, but we are now at a point where we are waiting for the reports on the pilot projects. We will figure out the best model to use because clearly there are resource implications of which we have to be conscious, depending on which model is used to develop the service. That issue will have to be addressed also.

We have a service available in Dublin, to which approximately 800 children were referred in 2010. They were placed in a variety of settings. That is an emergency out-of-hours social work service. We have the model of the emergency place of safety service where gardaí seek a foster family to look after a child. We also have the two pilot projects. We have to bring all of this experience together and decide how we should move forward within the available resources.

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