Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ar son Shinn Féin, guím beannachtaí na Cásca ar an Cheann Comhairle, ar Theachtaí agus ar Sheanadóirí, agus ar fhoireann an Tí go léir.

I ask the Tánaiste to let the following quotes sink in: "He is confined to one room, and he tries to run out as soon as the door is open"; "I put on music so that the children can't hear the shouting and screaming"; "She's like some child that has been locked up in a cage"; and, "Hannah (aged eight), cried and told us that the Hub was 'like a children's jail''."

Those are just some of the views of the children who are in the so-called family hubs contained in the Ombudsman for Children's report, which has just been published.

Will the Tánaiste agree that it makes for shocking reading? The children surveyed said they feel shame, guilt and anger but the only one that should be feeling shame and guilt is the Government and the anger should be directed at it for allowing this situation to evolve. Those emotions should never be held by children this young, especially at Easter as we commemorate the 1916 Rising and the words in the Proclamation of cherishing all the children of the national equally. Will the Tánaiste implement the recommendations of national standards, the inspection mechanisms and full-scale evaluation? Will he accept, given the words of these young children, that his Government's housing policy is in complete and utter tatters?

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