Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil welcomes the appointment of Dr. Niall Muldoon as the new Ombudsman for Children. He brings a wealth of experience and insight to the role from his work in the area of child protection for almost 20 years. His extensive knowledge and expertise makes him an ideal candidate to safeguard the rights and welfare of children.

The Office of Ombudsman for Children, which has just marked its tenth anniversary this year, has become an intrinsic part of Ireland's social and public affairs in ensuring that the voices of children are heard. We would like to pay tribute to Dr. Muldoon on his work with the office to date and wish him well in his new role. We hope he will build on the great work that has been carried out during the ten years since the office was established.

I also take this opportunity to thank the outgoing ombudsman, Ms Emily Logan, who has provided the State and its citizens with an invaluable service since the establishment of the office. She has been at the forefront in establishing the office as a fearless defender of the rights of the vulnerable and the voice of children in our society. I wish her every success in her new role as chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Her independence and vision will be an enormous asset to the new human rights body.

The ombudsman's office was set up in the context of a national children's strategy launched in 2000, which at the time was internationally welcomed as a model of good practice for the provision of supports and services for children. That strategy marked a transformation in acknowledging the rights and the voice of children and in ensuring their concerns are central in political and administrative decisions. As set out at the time, its three main goals were to provide for an Ireland where children are respected as young citizens with a valued contribution to make and a voice of their own, where all children are cherished and supported by family and the wider society, and where they enjoy a fulfilling childhood and realise their potential.

Ireland, like other countries, established the ombudsman in the context of its international obligations as a signatory of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, there are not many countries that have domesticated the convention in the way Ireland has done, and for this both Ms Logan and Dr. Muldoon should be applauded.

The policy challenge is to realise the implications of the national children's strategy and our obligations under the UN convention, as well as the recent constitutional amendment, in practice. The role of an ombudsman is crucial in this regard: highlighting inequalities, advising the Government on how rights can be strengthened and, most importantly, handling complaints from people who believe that the rights of a child have not been met by State bodies.

The office has had a tremendously positive influence on Irish political and administrative systems and has been to the front in promoting cultural change in the way we think about public services, putting children to the fore in all decisions. It has acted as an empowering resource for children and families when dealing with authorities. Over the past ten years public knowledge of the office complaints procedure has grown and, with it, the number of complaints lodged and investigated. From 100 complaints in its first year, there have since been 10,000 complaints in the past ten years.

While the ombudsman has had an active and transformational effect on public services, the reality is that the Government is not doing enough to act on some of the ombudsman's recommendations and, more generally, to implement the Children First agenda.

The Government has proved all too good in the past at spouting rhetoric on cherishing the children of the nation equally, but the child protection services are not adequately resourced. As a result, dedicated front-line workers face major challenges in ensuring the most vulnerable in our society are protected.

There are still some immediate child protection issues that the Government has yet to address. The Children First Bill, published last year, and which was promised in 2011, does not go far enough in ensuring that people are forced to speak up when children are vulnerable to abuse. While the Children First Bill is supposed to end a culture of turning a blind eye to child abuse and other child protection issues, the Bill as proposed lacks teeth.

For instance, concerns have been raised, including by me, that the new Bill does not include any sanctions for those who refuse to report child protection issues. While professionals working with children will now be legally obliged to report concerns, there will be no consequences or penalties if they do not. Furthermore, no additional resources are being provided to implement the measures provided in this Bill. The introduction of mandatory reporting of allegations of child abuse must be backed up with adequate resources to handle all cases of suspected abuse. There will not be a properly functioning child protection structure in this State if our system cannot handle each and every allegation that is reported to the authorities.

The volume of concerns about children at risk reported to social services has increased by some 98% over the past seven years, from 21,000 to 41,600. However, budgets and staffing levels are nowhere near what is required to deal with these increased demands. The reality is that services are under severe pressure. Front-line social services are struggling to cope with heavy caseloads and scarce resources. Many cases are not getting the kind of rapid response they require. According to the latest figures, for example, there were around 9,000 reports of suspected abuse, neglect or welfare concerns, of which 3,500, having been classified as high-priority cases, are still awaiting the allocation of a social worker.

The previous Ombudsman for Children, Ms Emily Logan, expressed concern that safe social work was not possible in parts of the country in the face of continued resource shortages in the sector. While we can welcome the appointment of the ombudsman today, the Minister needs to urgently address the shortage of social workers in the system. The matter, which was highlighted by the previous ombudsman, still has not been addressed. There are almost 200 vacancies for social work posts, and an average of one social worker per week left his or her job between 2010 and 2014. We were promised a new start and higher standards with the establishment of the Child and Family Agency last year, yet despite the fanfare, problems with staffing have not been resolved.

Children referred to Tusla are some of the most vulnerable in our society, but because of deficiencies in the system these children cannot currently be guaranteed an individual care plan. According to Tusla's figures, almost 500 children in care still do not have an assigned social worker, and even if they are allocated a social worker, overburdened staff cannot visit these children on a regular basis. These are children in need of consistency and stability in their lives. However, the delays in the system mean that children who are not deemed to be at immediate risk often do not get to see a social worker for six months. This means that by the time these vulnerable children are in their teens or have developed a problem, they are not familiar with their social worker and have not built up a relationship of trust through regular meetings. What is equally worrying is the high number of social workers leaving their jobs over the past four years. Not only does this leave a gap in the system, it makes it almost impossible for these children to build up a relationship with individual social workers due to high staff turnover. I make these points because, while the role of the ombudsman is to investigate where the State is failing, if we as a society and State do not address this, and if the Government does not put in place the necessary resources, that is simply not good enough.

I want to finish on a positive note by again congratulating Dr. Muldoon. The work of an ombudsman can often involve a healthy tension with the Departments it investigates, and that is inevitable. However, I am glad there is a healthy respect for the office among the bodies it investigates and, more especially, that the public seem to be interested and engaged in its work. I am certain that Dr. Muldoon is the right person to guide the office in the right direction and maintain its independence and the public's esteem.

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