Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill and thank the Minister and her staff and congratulate them on the work they have done on developing child protection. The Minister has been to the forefront of many initiatives and has not just talked the talk but walked the walk. This Government established the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, creating a full Cabinet position which facilitates the development of an approach to delivering services to Irish children. It harmonised and led the way into dealing with children's affairs. It also saw a number of transfers from other agencies such as the Irish Youth Service, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Family Support Agency, National Education and Welfare Board and many others, and I welcome this. The children's referendum, which amended the Constitution, was a very important step in ensuring the protection of children in Ireland. We have greater child protection, children are prioritised and we are giving them a second chance.

The Bill will put key elements of the Children First guidelines on a statutory footing for the first time since they were published in 1999 and this is very welcome. The Bill will provide for a number of key child protection measures including a requirement on mandated persons, including medical practitioners, registered nurses, teachers, social workers, gardaí, psychologists and members of the clergy, to report child protection concerns to the Child and Family Agency. It will require mandated persons to assist the Child and Family Agency in the assessment of a child protection risk, if the agency requests it. Organisations providing services to children will be required to comply with best practice in child protection as set out in the Children First guidelines and to produce a child safeguarding statement. This is very important and necessary.

There has been much talk on this issue over the years. However, I am glad the Opposition has acknowledged the significant work the Minister and her Department have done in the past three years, which has put the child at the centre of the Department's policies. The Bill will strengthen child protection in Ireland, acting on the 2009 Ryan report, which highlighted some stark issues which were not being dealt with but were being swept under the carpet. Everybody took notice of the Ryan report. The Bill also represents the delivery of a key commitment of the programme for Government.

Section 9 of the Bill provides that: "A provider of a relevant service shall ensure, as far as practicable, that each child availing of the service from the provider is safe from harm". This is very welcome. Section 10 provides that a person who proposes to operate as a provider of a relevant service shall, within three months of the commencement of the service carry out a risk assessment and prepare a child safeguarding statement. This is also welcome.

When I was a young child, many years ago, the community cared for the child, as Deputy O'Reilly outlined. Everybody was looking out for each other. Unfortunately, there were times when people did not know, and when a perpetrator or a person who would undermine a child was respected. I refer to people in positions of influence such as priests, teachers and many others. Many issues were swept under the carpet. Now we have in place a reporting mechanism that can stop that. It is unfortunate that we grew up in an innocent time when we trusted people who breached that trust. Although it is unfortunate that over the years we have had to bring in this legislation, it is very necessary given what has happened in the past ten to 30 years.

While it is great to see our young people so confident and mature, much more so than we were, they face different challenges to those we faced. In small towns years ago there were cinemas and places for people to meet. Rural areas face major challenges and decline, which is population based. My town used to be a big town with 3,000 people. Towns such as Ratoath, which was a small village 20 or 30 years ago, might have a population of 25,000 to 30,000 people. We must address these matters. Now we have regional towns. Carrick-on-Shannon, with a population of 4,000, is a regional town for people from many smaller towns and villages who use the facilities there. It is nice that we do not have a two-bit swimming pool in each town but a decent leisure centre, which one can be proud of, in one area and a decent cinema and theatre, hotels and restaurants. People, especially the young, can go to that area and meet.

However, transport is an issue. People in rural areas have to travel further to avail of facilities and meet their friends. Growing up in a small village or town does not mean one has a small circle of friends. Politics teaches one that one can meet different circles of friends. As parents cannot drive all around the country, we need cycleways, which I have seen in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. While it is nothing to cycle five or six miles from a village to a town, we need safe cycleways. The Minister will work closely with other Departments and I implore her to establish safe cycleways between our towns, villages and bigger towns to allow young children to do the things they want to do without relying on their parents or a transport system which lacks economies of scale. Now is the time to consider linking up all our green networks and cycleways around the country so that, for example, people from Boyle can cycle to Carrick-on-Shannon in half an hour, people from Elphin can cycle to Carrick-on-Shannon and people from Carrick-on-Shannon can cycle to Boyle, or whatever. We need to examine this around the country because the Ireland in which I grew up does not have the population and economies of scale to provide the top-class facilities we want.

Again, I congratulate the Minister and her Department. It is nice to hear the Opposition welcoming this innovative Bill and I hope it will provide a future framework for our children.

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