Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The reason I continue to harp on about this issue is because for the 233 children in full-time residential care, the only people who are responsible for them and charged with their governance - effectively their parents - are this Government. I continue to ask the question because we have a duty of care to those young people who sometimes do not have a voice, do not know how to access the proper services or might be misguided because they think they know it all at 17 or 18 years of age when in fact they do not. It is not just me conveying what I am experiencing. Focus Ireland, in its submission to Tusla, stated that one of the problems was the lack of continuity among social care workers, that relationships had not been built and that young people below the age of 16 or 18 years are not governed by having the aftercare plan. I raise this issue with the Minister on a regular basis for the simple reason that we are the parents governing these children.

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