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

It is right to say we have some very good foster care families in this country. We need every one of them and we need more because they do Trojan work. It is unfortunate we are bringing a spotlight onto a particular case but it is incumbent on us to highlight it so we can do the right thing for children.

The Minister of State acknowledged that foster carers undergo a rigorous assessment process. That is absolutely the case but where it falls down is in regard to the follow-up, the governance and the procedures covering checks and balances. I am reading HIQA reports monthly, and I have read reports from areas such as Cavan, Monaghan, Cork and Dublin, where I can see major non-compliance. Some of the instances of non-compliance are very simple, for example, Garda vetting, which is a simple requirement that we need in order to protect children.

I and my colleagues in Fianna Fáil believe that the possibility of an independent commission of investigation should be examined. There have been far too many cases where poor and tragic decisions have been taken with regard to children in the care of the State, such as the Grace case last year and the Mary case. I do not want a litany of such cases. I want us to find how best to protect our most vulnerable.

We know from the testimonies of foster parents, as well as from Tusla figures, that even where protocols are in place, they are simply not being enforced or implemented by Tusla. At the end of 2017 over 10% of children were awaiting an allocation of a link worker - a social worker intended to support foster carers - and some 5% of children in care did not have an allocated social care worker. In January 2018 there were 4,256 child protection cases awaiting the allocation of a social worker, and 1,787 of these cases were high or medium priority.

I have laid out the position. What I and my party want is an independent commission so we can learn from all of these cases.

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