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

I appreciate the Deputy's passion regarding this matter. I share it. He is right to raise these questions. I am really struggling to find the right word. "Pleased" is not the right word but it is good that we have the tribunal's report in this regard. It complements the HIQA statutory investigation, to which I referred. These are serious matters. The first point the Deputy made was that one of the key criticisms was the slowness of Tusla to respond in co-operating with the tribunal. I raised those issues directly with the board when I met it prior to the exchange of letters to which I referred. Therefore, I share the concerns of the Deputy in that regard, and I have expressed them.

The Deputy referred to the report as "damning stuff". Indeed it is. It is clearly devastating in its assessment of the poor management, supervision and record management and Tusla's Cavan–Monaghan area. In response to the letter that the board wrote back to me, I asked it to articulate the ways in which the practice on the ground is being improved. I might elaborate on that in my next comment.

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