Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, Deputy Tóibín raised the Grace case. That commission has completed its work and there have been interim reports. It is a shocking case and I want to await the outcome of the full, compete report. I have not seen the Alice report. From what the Deputy has just said to the House, it represents a shocking situation.

I will engage with the Deputy again on the issues and see what I can do in respect of meeting Alice and so on, if the Deputy feels it would be of assistance.

On the broader question, the establishment of a commission to examine the case of everybody abused in foster care would, in itself, be an enormous undertaking. One would have to give it very serious consideration before embarking on it. Commissions, as a model, take an extraordinary length of time to reach conclusions, and that remains the case. In this regard, I am referring to a number of commissions of investigation that are under way and that have been extended and extended, for different reasons. By its very nature, the matter in question would be a particularly difficult one because it does not pertain to institutions as such. It would take an enormous amount of, dare I say, fieldwork. One would have to consider the vast number of fostering cases down through the years. That is my initial response to that. While there are issues, that does not mean we should not examine issues.

I believe strongly that we have existing State agencies that should be the first resort in following through on allegations and abuse of the kind in question. One of the best things we did — I was involved in it at the time — was to set up HIQA, for example. It is an example of a body that exists to do the quality control, if you like, in this day and age to protect people right now and to improve standards in the areas under its remit. The establishment of commissions has become the first thing we resort to. It seems to be the fallback position to almost excuse existing agencies for not thoroughly doing the work they are legislatively charged to do. We have a range of bodies that should be getting to the bottom of these matters much faster and much more efficiently rather than having us raise them in the House, inevitably leading to a commission of inquiry that takes years to complete its work. It becomes even more difficult for all involved.

With regard to homelessness, homelessness is not entirely the fault of the State. It is more complex than that but the State has a responsibility to provide housing and give people shelter. It does have that obligation, in my view.

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