Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that much work has been done on both pieces of legislation. I have already outlined clearly how much work has been done with regard to the child and family agency, at an organisational level and into drafting the legislation. The legislation will have more than 100 heads and is extremely complex. The Attorney General and Parliamentary Counsel have been doing much work on it along with the Department. We will have it during this Dáil term.

With regard to Children First, I have outlined the issues which have arisen. We received a very complex 600 page report from the committee. With regard to children being at risk at present, I want to make it very clear that the Children First guidelines are in operation and very clear guidance is being given with regard to assessing cases when they come to the child protection teams. For the first time HIQA is examining child protection standards, which I welcome, and I understand four reports have been done. The reports we receive in the coming weeks and months will give a precise picture of what is happening in child protection teams throughout the country. I do not underestimate the scale of the challenges facing these teams but it should be helped by the fact that extra social workers are now in place and HIQA is pointing out very clearly the areas where improvement is needed as well as those areas working well.

With regard to the name of the agency, it was felt it would be less confusing to leave out the word "support" as this could be misunderstood with regard to the Department of Social Protection. This is the only reason. As I already stated, family support is very important and goes hand in hand with child protection.

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