Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is the truth at the time, I remember. Catherine McGuinness, in her report, was the start of a groundbreaking insight into a hidden world, certainly an unacknowledged world, of abuse that has, unfortunately, continued. We have had many reports and investigations since, but in terms of Catherine McGuinness's work, I am aware that the Children's Rights Alliance established the Catherine McGuinness fellowship on children's rights and child law in memory of her work.

We need to ensure that the recommendations which flowed from all of these investigations are completely and absolutely acted upon. I am delighted to hear what the Minister said with regard to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, because again I was fortunate enough to be a Member of the Government that established a bespoke Department with responsibility for children in 2011. After all the reports we had that recommended a stand-alone Department with responsibility for children, there is now some talk that it might be relegated to a junior Ministry again. That would be an extraordinary backward step and I hope it will not happen.

Many Deputies have talked about services that are available to women in particular but also to families and sometimes men who endure coercive behaviour, violence, or abuse of any kind. As others have referenced services and the inadequate services in their own constituencies, I want to pay tribute to the Wexford Rape Crisis centre and to Wexford Women's Refuge, both long-standing institutions that have done extraordinary work in my home town and county of Wexford. I acknowledge the sterling work of the voluntary people who are the drivers of those centres, and the superb co-operation between the statutory and non-statutory groups, between An Garda Síochána and the HSE, and in particular with Wexford local authorities, namely, Wexford County Council. Brand new and modern facilities are now in train in Wexford to improve those that have been there for many years.

Others have referenced the fact that we need to co-ordinate our response to domestic abuse and violence of the kind everybody has instanced and discussed. One of the suggestions put forward has been for the creation of a Minister of State to haul it all together. Perhaps that is a good idea, but in the one minute I have left I am interested to hear the Minister's view in terms of the politics of that, and how best we can respond to some further horrors that will be revealed after the lockdown ends.

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