Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the Bill. This will be an effective decision, which is long overdue. Nobody wants children sent to St. Patrick's Institution and that will not happen anymore. However, the question is where will they go now. More important, can we give these children who are in detention centres a better life, intervene at an earlier stage and provide more facilities so they will not have to be housed in the centres that are proposed?

I received a reply to a parliamentary question I tabled to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs regarding the number of children in private residential care centres for those aged under 17. They could be in the centres voluntarily or they could be put there by the courts. On average, the State spends €150,000 per annum on each child. In my constituency, Louth, communities have experienced problems with people who have been placed in high dependence units, which might hold up to four children at a time. I am concerned about whether these units are the best place for children. Is there a better model? Can children in dysfunctional families be identified at an earlier stage whereby other types of intervention could be made that might be more effective than the current model?

Ultimately, children who do not successfully improve their pattern of behaviour when they go through these care institutions will end up in prison anyway. The Government has identified the need to increase the services and resources available to child and family centres and to go back further to when children are in pre-school. It is exceptionally clear from disadvantaged communities that pre-school education and involvement with children before they go to primary school has a very significant capacity to improve their outcomes in terms of educational attainment and socialisation. The result is a much happier, more involved and integrated society. It is absolutely clear that the earlier we identify, intervene and support children who come from a dysfunctional family or have mental health issues, the better their outcome will be. That is a particular objective of everybody.

It is a matter of great concern that in an inspection of Tusla and the services it provides for children in County Louth it received a score of one out of 27. In other words, in almost all cases, it failed or has failed in the past. I welcome the fact that its chief executive and chief operations officer are taking direct responsibility for what is happening in my constituency with the care of children who would otherwise end up in prisons. I welcome their concern and involvement. We need a value for money audit of our services for children right across the country to examine whether it is the best model and conforms to best practice internationally. Is there a better way? I welcome the personal commitment of Mr. Gordon Jeyes of Tusla and his chief operations officer to examine these issues. They are absolutely committed to Tusla being the national centre of excellence for looking after young people and keeping them out of the care of the State as they grow into young adults. Such an assessment would show if we are getting value for money and establish if there is a better way to do what we have been doing to get better outcomes. It will be for the good of everybody.

Yesterday, I listened to a famous Irish artist with a very difficult family background speak to Miriam O'Callaghan. I was deeply impressed that he had a very difficult family background, had been involved with gangs and other criminal activity when he was very young, yet now his art is of such a high professional standard that each painting is worth at least $1 million. This shows how successfully he has overcome a very difficult background. He has shown leadership and commitment to bring about change in his own life which affects everyone who comes into contact with him. He is a brilliant person and has succeeded fantastically to overcome his background. In his assessment of his life, he respects how disadvantaged his parents were. As a former teacher, I have known lots of young people who despite the best efforts of teachers, parents and peers ended up in prison and on the wrong side of the law. A very significant number of those are not violent people but fell into drugs and criminality because of poverty, lack of education or educational attainment or their inability to read and write. There are huge issues in our society and we are throwing money at them. We need to reassess and look for a better way to keep people out of trouble, support families, and help these young people. We could look again at better models of care and early intervention. By the time young people reach St. Patrick's Institution, which thankfully is closing, they have passed the stage at which they can be helped because in most cases they are fixed on a course which is irreversible. The message I have from my experience of working with young people and my knowledge of the communities that I work in is that the earlier the intervention, the better and more successful it will be. I am talking about starting at pre-school, working in primary schools and putting more resources into places of disadvantage.

Some years ago, the Journal of Health Gain, which was produced by Maynooth University, mapped Dublin city by the location of where people died younger, had the worst health, lowest educational attainment and most often ended up in Mountjoy jail. Those people all came from particular electoral divisions of Dublin. It is a fact that communities that suffer poverty, ill-health and criminality are the most deprived in society. The only way forward is to put money into those communities to provide earlier interventions, more support services and family supports. That is the only way we can change. In terms of the significant positive outcomes for educational attainment, the younger those children can be reached, the better. The support services given right around the country to breakfast clubs, homework clubs and getting involved with communities is the future and is how change is brought about. It is how change is happening.

I welcome the principle of the Bill but I have concerns about how we can make a better country for these young people so they feel part of society, that it is there for them, reaches out to them and helps them, their siblings and family. My criticism of Tusla is balanced by my knowledge of its commitment to bring about change. It needs more funding as it has a significant inability to employ social workers. There is a shortage of social workers nationally to intervene and help in situations that clearly exist. Tusla needs to get a better report from HIQA when it next examines Tusla's services in County Louth. I have no doubt that those who work at the very top in Tusla are committed to achieving that. It will impact right through our society and offer a better opportunity for young people to succeed and achieve the best they can for their lives with the talents they have been given.

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