Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I would like to repeat a point I made when we were setting up the McCabe commission two weeks ago because there is a pattern developing here. This House would not be discussing these issues or in the process of setting up these investigations if it were not for the work of brave whistleblowers and a small number of investigative journalists, most notably in the RTE investigations unit. There is no sense that anybody can be proud of anything here at all. The system did not expose this wrongdoing. There are major problems because of that.

The handling of this issue leaves a huge amount to be desired. On Tuesday, the Minister of State rushed to the media to get the terms of reference out with no regard for anybody else in this House. There was no consultation with anybody. The glaring omissions could have been addressed at the time if consultation had taken place at an earlier stage. We were given inaccurate information about the opportunities available to us to amend the terms of reference. There was a failure to answer pertinent questions. As a result of all of this, the terms of reference were withdrawn and needed to be revisited. The revised terms of reference were rushed this morning and people were not given adequate time to consider them. The Cregan inquiry is an example of what I am talking about. The rush to legislate resulted in mistakes being made. The Government had to return to the Dáil to correct those mistakes and widen the terms of reference of the inquiry. In my view, the Minister of State should not have engaged in such bad practice in this case.

There is no doubt that the most glaring omission from the version of the terms of reference we saw earlier in the week was the exclusion of the 47 children other than Grace. Those terms of reference quite clearly provided for a scoping exercise but not for an investigation. I am glad that omission has now been corrected. There is concern among many of the families that this will be a long and drawn-out process and that there will be further delays in getting answers for the other 47 families. I welcome the decision to proceed with this investigation in two phases, in line with a suggestion I had made. I want the Minister of State to assure the House that there will be no delay between the first and second phases. The terms of reference talk about having to come back to the Government after the first phase.

I would like to refer to another matter that I raised in confidence with the Minister of State yesterday. It is an important matter concerning the commission. While I do not wish to raise it publicly, it is important for me to record my concern and to say I am seeking clarification on it. The Minister of State responded to me a short while ago in a letter in which he said he would provide clarification prior to the order establishing the commission being approved. I want him to clarify what exactly he means by that. What kind of timescale is envisaged for the procedural approval of the order? I will continue to wait for information on the potentially quite serious issue I raised with the Minister of State yesterday.

The whole question of the three-year delay has not been addressed.

Much misleading information is being put out by various people on the role of the Garda in all of this and how it was there could have been a three-year delay. The other major issue relates to staffing and we have not had any explanations on that. We could get those answers now if the Minister of State took the trouble to ask the questions about the three staff who took the original decision not to move Grace, the five staff involved with the case who are currently working in the Health Service Executive and the six staff involved with the case currently working in Tusla. The Minister of State should provide those answers now.

Quite clearly there is very poor governance and accountability in how many of our health services are organised. If we are to have accountability, jobs must be on the line. There is a culture within our health service that people are untouchable because they cannot be sacked. That must change and when serious errors are made in terms of accountability and wrongdoing, a price must be paid. That means jobs should be on the line.

The Minister of State's words are fine when he speaks about moving beyond being shocked and appalled, having the power to effect change and looking forward to the day we can have confidence in our systems. I do not know what those words mean. How can he speak about that as if all the problems have been resolved? How can he speak about having confidence in the system when he knows perfectly well that the disability and social work services are seriously under-resourced? It is only meaningless rhetoric.

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