Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this very important topic. I support Deputies Nulty and Shortall on the pension rights of the Waterford Crystal workers.

The recent independent inspection by HIQA of the HSE’s child protection services in my home constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny has highlighted serious flaws in the assessment of children at risk and the way they are treated. As this is the first in a series of reports on child care across the country, and if one takes Carlow-Kilkenny as an example, it makes for uncomfortable reading. What is worrying is that this report is the first of its type, following a series of damning reports that have consistently highlighted failures in child protection and the general welfare of our children.

It seems we are not learning the lessons of the past. To quote Ms Jennifer Gargan, who is the head of Empowering People in Care, EPIC, a support group for young people in care, "Yet again, there are lessons from the past that have not been learned, and recommendations which have not been put in place." To combat these problems, we must embrace reports such as this regardless of their findings. The question that comes to mind is how did these failures come to pass, especially when new standards, published last year, set out clear and concise requirements for the HSE and others working in this area.

The failure to implement set guidelines has proven to have severe ramifications for our younger citizens. It can lead to alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness, social problems and a lot of other problems that manifest themselves well into adulthood. We have our own litany of tragic cases in which we failed our children, including terrible cases in Kilkenny and other parts of the south east, that have served to show what can happen to young people when the system fails them.

This report discovered evidence of children in Carlow-Kilkenny who were being placed at risk through the failure of social services to notify the Garda Síochána of cases in which abuse or neglect was suspected. The HIQA inspectors found that delays in sharing information were potentially hindering investigations carried out by the Garda. It was also found that some children who were believed to be at risk had records that were not updated and there were long waiting lists for investigations. The teams working in this area were not following the official guidelines on handling concerns about neglect and abuse. In total, none of the 27 national standards against which the services were inspected were fully met and nine of them were not met at all.

It would be remiss of me not to draw attention to the fact that the HIQA report also found that there were positives to be taken from the investigation. It was found that staff were providing a safe service and that the standards of assessments were good. Overall, the investigation found that services to children were safe and that many of the children and families who participated rated the service positively. If we can move forward with the positives and combat the negatives, we will be much closer to achieving our goal regarding children.

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