Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Along with the Deputy and other Deputies, I very much welcome the report by Dr. Geoffrey Shannon which is an audit of the use of section 12 by An Garda Síochána. He has done a great service to children. He has also done monumental work in terms of what we as policy makers need to do in order to support children in crisis. His report is a comprehensive, thorough analysis of the strengths and deficiencies in our shared approach to child protection. As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I will apply this research to our child protection system.

Since the publication of the report I have met Dr. Shannon on two occasions and have had several other communications with him. He has also had intensive engagement with officials in my Department. He has been very generous with his time and his expertise. Together, we have identified an action plan to improve our emergency child protection services.

Specifically, Deputy Rabbitte has asked me about establishing a 24 hour social work service. Following the discussions with Dr. Shannon, the initial steps have been agreed as to how best to implement the recommendation. I have already requested that Tusla examine, as a matter of priority, the level of demand for such a service and identify the most appropriate and child-friendly manner in which supports can be provided when a child needs emergency out-of-hours care. We can probably all agree that the needs of younger children and older adolescents will be different. We need to have a system that recognises this and responds to these differing needs and circumstances.

Last week, I attended a public consultation in the Seanad on mental health services for children. I listened to the testimony of mothers who described the chronic challenges faced by them when they need an urgent out-of-hours emergency service. In my opinion, we need an out-of-hours emergency service which responds to the needs of all children. We need the right response, from the right services at the right time. This should be flexible enough to meet the needs of the individual child and the particular situation. It could involve An Garda Síochána, Tusla social workers, HSE psychiatric professionals and HSE medical teams.

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