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

I thank the Chairman and the Minister for their opening statements. The report represents a huge body of work. The Chairman was right to acknowledge the role of the rapporteur, Deputy Funchion, in bringing it front and centre. I found it an enlightening experience because it was something about which I did not have great knowledge. The most important point is that it put a spotlight on the great work done by foster care families.

The Minister's good colleague from the Department, whose name I cannot remember at the moment, and I attended an Empowering People in Care, EPIC, conference at which we sat on a stage in front of various children. I will always remember the number - 6,344. A fantastic lady came forward who told her story through song, dance and literature, and it was absolutely amazing. It was all about her experience in care. When I and the Minister's colleague left the conference that day, there was an undertaking and a willingness on our part that we would be the voice for those people. Those young people took the microphone that day, and they do not understand the difference between a Deputy, a Minister, a Senator or the lady in the Department, but they felt their voices were not being heard. All they wanted to know was that they had a voice. To be considerate to the EPIC organisers on that day, they let the debate flow and allowed the young people and their foster care parents have a say. That instilled in me the need to ensure that we should do whatever we can do to let them have that voice. I am very glad that our committee facilitated that opportunity.

It was important for us to be able to deliver a message for those young people because they had issues to raise. That is addressed in the 12 points in the report. As members of an Oireachtas committee, we have identified various issues that they highlighted about their care and aftercare plans. They made the point that if they were to engage in education, given that a person may not make the right choice in the first subject they select, they could pursue education again. Their greatest fear is that they would fall off the wagon, so to speak, in regard to education. Foster care parents were worried about that also because they wanted to support these children and give them every chance to get an education. That was a major worry on the day.

Another issue was voiced by foster parents on the day. With the current housing crisis they said they would have no problem building on additional units or capacity to their properties. If there was a grant available similar to the housing adaptation grant for older persons or persons with disabilities, they were prepared to build what those of us in the country would call a lean-to onto the house if they wanted to foster another child. They were open and flexible in wanting to help.

It is important to acknowledge the good work done by EPIC, Youth Advocate Programmes, YAP, Ireland, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, ISPCC, and all the other agencies which provide support for foster care parents. The critical point they made concerned the support they felt they were getting nationally from Tusla. They were critical of the fact that they did not have the link workers, the social care workers or the aftercare plans.

In the context of recommendation No. 7, we know that there is a problem in the recruitment and retention of staff which is affecting the most vulnerable children in foster care. We must also examine the supports for staff to enable them to do their work, including ICT facilities. I raise this issue on a regular basis because how staff on the ground communicate with central base is critical. If a child moves from Galway to Dublin, the relevant data should not solely be in paper files but also stored electronically. The Minister said new ICT systems were being rolled out, which is welcome because it was a major criticism in the report. It is really positive to see improvements being made in that regard.

In terms of there being specific committee meetings, the presentation made by Dr. Geoffrey Shannon, the special rapporteur on child protection, was fantastic, particularly the body of work he did on the use of section 12 of the Child Care Act. For me he opened up a new way of understanding children in vulnerable circumstances. I sit on the joint policing committee, JPC, in Galway and must compliment the Garda division in that county. We now receive an audit and quarterly reports on the use of section 12 by the Galway division. In the first quarter of this year the provisions of section 12 were used seven times. The report from An Garda Síochána does not go into great detail, but at least we know how many families were vulnerable. Following his presentation, I was equipped with the tools which enabled me to ask at a local level for support for vulnerable children. I recommend that all Oireachtas Members who sit on JPCs throughout the country engage with journalists, county councillors and other JPC members in order that they will all understand what section 12 means. I was able to educate my fellow JPC colleagues, for which I have the Oireachtas committee to thank. The information that came from the particular meeting was startling, as was the information on the out-of-hours service.

I note that three counties will benefit initially from closer co-operation between An Garda Síochána and Tusla. The lack of cross-departmental co-operation was very evident from numerous presentations made to the committee. I must compliment the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs on the work her Department has done to build a bridge because that is the only way we will be able to support young people properly. We have to be the bigger person and identify where the system is not working and bring all Departments on board. The wonderful thing about the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs is that it works with so many Departments. A lot of them can work without the committee but it cannot work without them. It depends on seven Departments, but interdepartmental co-operation has been a failure in some respects. That failure was not the result of an unwillingness on the part of any group. On the level of co-operation between An Garda Síochána and Tusla, somebody had to make the decision that they would work together and bring it all into play. That has happened and I really look forward to the national roll-out in that regard. At a recent meeting of Galway JPC I asked when it would be rolled out in my county. It will be rolled out and there is an awareness of it, as well as huge hope.

I am glad that the Minister, Deputy Katharine Zappone, and Deputy Alan Farrell both touched on the Galway abuse case which happened in my constituency. As I have raised it as a Topical Issues matter on two occasions, I will not go into the details of it again today. It is important to point out, however, that it happened when the foster care system was under the governance of the HSE. I hope lessons have been learned and that the mistakes will not be repeated. No one who watched the horrific television programme would want any child in care to be subjected to anything like what was described. In that context, HIQA needs stronger statutory powers. It does not have the teeth it requires at this time. It is carrying out all of the inspections and conducting review after review, but, regrettably, the findings are still the same. When it began carrying out inspections, the first reports we saw were very concerning and, in some instances, shameful. Simple, basic things were wrong that should not have been wrong. Even basic things such as Garda vetting had not been carried out. However, 12 months on from the first reports we are still seeing issues repeated and lessons not being learned. Garda vetting does not take 12 months to complete. There is a process in place and when one applies for Garda vetting, it works well and does not take anything like 12 months to complete. In that context, why are the basic problems which are highlighted continuously not being addressed? There is no need for that to happen. If we are not getting the most basic fundamentals right, how can we expect to tackle the huge non-compliance issues? One of the latest reports highlighted nine areas, in one of which there was compliance and in another semi-compliance, but in the remaining seven there was major non-compliance. It should be the other way around. We should be making progress, but it seems that we are not, which is regrettable.

As the Minister pointed out, we need more foster care families and to support them if we want to give children a second chance. We must ensure they are in the best possible place - a home setting. In that context, Tusla must make foster care a priority in order that foster carers will be able to proudly identify as a group within the care sector that does its job well, rather than a group that is in the public eye for all of the wrong reasons.

I thank everyone on the Oireachtas committee for giving me the opportunity to work on the report. I really enjoyed it. The 12 recommendations made should be kept front and centre and reassessed on an annual basis. It would be beneficial to invite representatives of HIQA to appear before the Oireachtas committee again to see how best we can move forward, given what we have learned in the past 12 months.

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