Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her reply. At the outset, I want to say I have great respect for Ms Logan and for her office. The purpose of my question is to establish whether the Office of the Ombudsman for Children is dealing with the various cases that come before it. We all receive the annual report - I have attended its launch on a number of occasions - and we all then continue on into the following year. I am anxious to establish what is the current level of engagement and what analysis there may be in regard to issues and causes of complaint. Is there is currently a crossover between the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Office of the Ombudsman for Children in seeking to identify measures that could be taken to eliminate, if possible, or at least in some way mitigate against the worst possible outcomes in regard to given situations that must be repeating year on year? It is very important that while my question referred to more than 1,200 complaints, we note from the figures the Minister has just cited that it was much more in 2012, at 1,465 cases, up from a figure of 1,393 for the previous year.

My question seeks to establish whether there is that level of address and, if not, whether the Minister would regard such an exercise as useful. Obviously, it is something Ms Logan would have to be directly involved in. It is not about the individual cases per se, or about the detail of any individual case or complaint received, or, indeed, its address; it is about the broad brush-stroke situations that may present in significant numbers across the profile of the 1,465 cases last year, and how we can inform ourselves to do something that might - I emphasise "might" - make a difference in regard to those situations that present repeatedly.

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