Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I recognise his ongoing interest in this and the survivors who are with us in the House today.

Officials from my Department continue to liaise with St. John Ambulance Ireland with regard to the recommendations arising from the independent review report by Dr. Shannon which St. John Ambulance Ireland commissioned. My officials are scheduled to meet officials from St. John Ambulance on 11 December to discuss the progress on the implementation of recommendations made by Dr. Shannon in his report. Those meetings have been taking place on a reasonably regular basis to get an understanding of changes that have been made.

There has been progress on the implementation of some of the recommendations set out by Dr. Shannon. My understanding is there has been a change of two board members, although if I have that wrong, I am happy for the Deputy to clarify that. When we last spoke about this, I highlighted the fact the new national lead on child safeguarding - an independent lead, which was one of the key recommendations - had not been followed up on, and I said I would not be fully satisfied until that was done. My understanding is the application process for a national safeguarding lead has been completed and the plan is to appoint someone in the coming weeks. Until that person is in place and is operating, I will not have full confidence in the implementation of these recommendations, but we are seeing progress, albeit slow, on the appointment of that role. That national lead will work with St. John Ambulance volunteers who operate the child protection policy and will report directly to the board of St. John Ambulance.

As the Deputy knows, there was a commitment to making quarterly reports on the progress made towards Dr. Shannon's recommendations by St. John Ambulance after they were published, and one quarterly report has been published. This evening, my Department received the most recent quarterly report, but neither I nor my officials have had the opportunity to go through it in detail. I will ask my officials to revert to the Deputy in writing on our view of it. My understanding is it will be published online on the St. John Ambulance website this evening, so he will be able to look at it himself, but I will nonetheless apprise him of our view on it. It is important for that element of accountability that we are seeing the publication of those reports.

As I mentioned, my officials will meet St. John Ambulance officials on 11 December. The fact there is a quarterly report will provide a good context to discuss whether measures have been implemented and what the officials mean in respect of various points, and if there are specific points the Deputy wants us to flag, we will be happy to do so.

I am very committed to seeing reform in this organisation and, most essentially, to ensuring the safety of children in the organisation, which was not provided for in the past, with the most grievous results for a significant number of children and young people. They had joined the organisation out of a sense of community and solidarity and a desire to help and were taken advantage of in some of the most despicable ways possible. That is why I worked with St. John Ambulance to ensure it did undertake a report, and I again recognise that the Deputy and Members of the other House have been crucial in that. We have seen progress, but more is needed before any of us can be satisfied.

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