Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My question today relates to child protection and the ongoing inadequacies in that area. We cannot reassure ourselves that children are protected. The Taoiseach will be aware that the national review panel report was published yesterday following a leak. Co-incidentally, on the same day, a report from HIQA confirmed ongoing inadequacies in child protection. The summary report is dated December 2018. I understand it was completed at the end of November. The clear question is why did it take so long to publish it and why did it have to be leaked.

The report acknowledges the grave and heinous sexual abuse perpetrated on the three children while they were in the care of the State. It refers to serious errors of judgment, flawed assessment and decision-making and lack of management oversight. The report found that sufficient evidence existed at the time to indicate that the children should be moved. The measures taken by the social work department were deficient, to say the least. There is a whole list of deficiencies, including a safety plan that was put in place but really not implemented, and rarely referred to in subsequent meetings. My time is limited so I will not go on. Has the Taoiseach read the report and what will he do about it?

On the terms of reference of that report, I have serious concerns as to how this was done from day one. The final disclosure was in 2011. The national review panel got its referral in April 2016. It is now May 2019. There was a slight delay, it would appear, because somebody somewhere asked it to delay it. The times are not given, nor who asked for it. On top of that, there was no publication date. Yesterday, I raised it with the Minister, Deputy Zappone, who told me it was always going to be yesterday. Significantly, over the course of a year, in a series of questions asking when this would be published, I got no indication that it would be yesterday.

I refer to the most grave and heinous abuse. The response from Tusla, I have to say, was not reassuring when it referred to a point in time because that point in time is ongoing.

The report from HIQA was co-incidentally published on the same day. It looked at six national standards and assessed the operation of foster homes in three counties under those headings. Four were non-compliant and one was "major non-compliant" in relation to child protection and issues in relation to safety plans were ongoing. A number of other issues were identified, plus an absence of staff and a number of children who do not have a social worker. Could the Taoiseach tell me, without jargon and without a reply from whoever writes the speeches, in the first instance, what is his response to that summary report? Can he confirm what actions the Government will take and explain how this report did not come back to a Minister, given the serious nature of this, and to the Dáil for discussion so that we all could take comfort from the reassurance that children are protected?

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