Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The agency Bill is fundamental because it is to establish a child and family support agency. That Bill will be before us here in a short few weeks and I hope we can get that through in this session.

The heads of the Children First Bill will be back before Government in the next couple of weeks. They are complex. There is a range of challenging issues here. There is much consultation going on. In respect of the legacy issues, they need to be addressed in terms of quality, training, inspection, standards and management.

As I stated, I hate to hear this being branded as a business, as a sector or as an industry. Child care is a profession. Child protection is a profession. We need a far more robust, comprehensive and quality-focused regime of inspection.

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, will advise the House when she has a response from the HSE on the recruitment and training that is going into the extra inspectors who are needed. As Deputy Martin will be well aware, this must be about the focus on the quality of the environment and the education for the children. This is why Deputy Fitzgerald, as a Cabinet Minister, has been strong on the need for the early years focus and the preschool year, which is so important for a seamless transition into the education system.

What I saw last night in part is an abuse of responsibility. We must take whatever measures are necessary to stamp out that appalling situation. That is why there is a Garda investigation and a HSE investigation going on.

When this family agency is set up, I do not want to see it as merely another agency with a new name and the same old standards. We will not stand for that. The Minister will supervise it.

See this speech in context