Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I want to recap some of the points I raised yesterday in regard to children in crisis, early intervention, the role of foster parents, the idea of having good social workers, good gardaí and good teachers and other examples of good practice. I strongly welcome the legislation and I will be supporting the Bill. This is a serious issue in regard to the protection of children and because of our history we must be extra vigilant. We must learn from the bad mistakes of the past and early intervention must be a key part of the process. Legislation is necessary but it is vital to intervene at an early stage to rescue children before they are hurt or damaged. I praise and commend the foster parents on the excellent work they undertake and the great service they provide to the State, to families and to young children whom they have rescued. In my previous contribution I also highlighted the vital role played in the rescue of children by a good Garda, special needs assistant, teacher or a good youth worker who may often save children from worse situations. I commend those who have intervened and are excellent examples of good practice.

Sadly, there are also examples of bad practice. The professional workers in the health and education services may need to improve their efforts in the protection of children. In the past 24 hours I have been contacted by a foster family about the lack of backup support and professionalism in services. It is vital to provide stability for those children and it is not helpful to have a different social worker from one week to the next.

The out of hours service must be available in order to respond to crisis situations. A young child or young person who is at risk in a negative situation late at night or at the weekend needs to have a service available out of hours. I hope the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, will deal with this issue and I am confident that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald is determined to deal with the issue. I emphasise the importance of a quality out of hours service and I emphasise the need for early intervention. As I said earlier in the debate, there is no point in rescuing children when they are 12 or 13 years of age because the damage will have been done at that stage and they are already on the way to being a drug addict or an alcoholic or ending up in Mountjoy Prison. Intervention must be at a very early age. I know this from personal experience of working with children for over 25 years. It is essential that the legislation deals with these issues.

The Bill establishes in Irish law an offence of withholding information in respect of specified offences committed against a child or vulnerable person. The definition of "child" is any person under the age of 18 years. We must focus on the child and the vulnerable person. I refer to the non-intervention and silence regarding the support of children and adults with an intellectual disability who are often left out of the debate. I note that they are included in the provisions of this legislation as a vulnerable person is described as a person suffering from a mental, intellectual or physical disability.

Many people who have been abused as children do not declare the abuse until well into adulthood because of the trauma they suffered in a family situation or in an institution or sports club. They must be treated as victims and they must receive the maximum support. Some victims of child abuse have major concerns about the trust fund for survivors of institutional abuse. They want the arrangements to allow for victims to receive either a trust fund, a lump sum or a pension. This pension scheme would be self-financing and could be run with the minimum administration costs.

The victims of child sexual abuse must be at the centre of the debate. This legislation is very decent legislation and I will support it. However, more than legislation is needed to prevent children being abused; it needs quality people in the service and responsible people and examples of good practice. There are examples of good practice in many State institutions but we need to up our game to protect and safeguard children.

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