Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Louise O'Keeffe should never have been subjected to abuse. She should have had a carefree childhood. Her case reminds us of the shocking scale of historical abuse, failures and inaction to protect children. I admire Louise O'Keeffe and I join with the Taoiseach in apologising to her for what happened in that school and for the horrendous experience she had to go through. We now have the judgment from the European Court of Human Rights, which is a very substantial one of about 82 pages, and we will discuss it at the Government meeting next Tuesday.

This Government has addressed clearly and comprehensively the whole issue of the protection of children. It is absolutely and without question a priority for the Government. We have created a dedicated Department of Children and Youth Affairs and have held a referendum on children's rights. Within the education sector, all schools are required to adhere to child protection procedures which give direction and guidance to school authorities and school personnel in the implementation of Children First when dealing with allegations and suspicions of child abuse. All primary schools now fully implement the Stay Safe programme, which plays a valuable role in helping children to develop the skills necessary to enable them to recognise and resist abuse and potentially abusive situations.

The Child and Family Agency is being officially launched today. It will be the first agency dedicated to supporting our children and families and to promoting the development, welfare and protection of our children. The Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, has published updated Children First guidelines and led a national effort to improve awareness of the need to report child protection concerns, leading to a major increase in reports which are up by one third on 2011. The Minister has also published the heads of the Children First legislation and the revised Bill will be published in March. The legislation will place obligations on professionals and organisations working with children to report suspected child protection concerns, to share information and to engage in inter-agency and multi-disciplinary working. The Minister for Justice and Equality has also commenced the Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information on Offences Against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 and it is now the responsibility of every member of society to protect and defend children from sexual and other abuse.

It is no longer acceptable, and it should never have been, that secrecy or ignorance on the part of those with knowledge of what were criminal offences could protect those who perpetrated those crimes. As I said, we will consider the implications of the judgment at the Government meeting on Tuesday.

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