Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach is aware of the case and so I would have thought some direction would have issued to the Minister for Education and Skills in relation to a response to the matter. The letter from Tusla to the parents states:

Given the complexity of the relationship between the duties of child and family agency and school management governance relating to the employment of teachers, I would like the independent review to be jointly sponsored with the Department of Education and Skills. However, if agreement to a joint approach is not forthcoming in the short term, I shall proceed to review child and family agency responsibilities unilaterally.

That is what has happened. In other words, Tusla seems to be investigating unilaterally. The only conclusion to be drawn from this is that the Department of Education and Skills did not wish to engage. We need answers as to the reason the Minister and Department of Education and Skills refused to engage or are not part of this review. I have spoken to the parents. I am not clear on the scope and scale of the review. In this regard, reference is made to inter-jurisdictional issues and so on between the different bodies. This type of silo mentality on the part of the Department is alarming.

I understand that Louise O'Keeffe, to whose attention the parents of the child concerned brought this issue, raised the issue with the Ministers for Children and Youth Affairs and Justice and Equality in the context of discussions in relation to her own situation. It would appear to me that this was broadly known across Government. While I will gladly await a further response from the Taoiseach I put it to him that the response to date does not inspire confidence in the capacity of the State to take such issues with the gravity required. The Ombudsman report, in terms of its conclusions and recommendations around how what we would term modern systems and guidelines failed so significantly in this particular context, in the politest language possible, makes for shocking reading. I am alarmed that the Minister for Education and Skills and others do not seem to have responded properly to this issue. That is why I believe there should be an independent examination of the entire case.

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