Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

Those are all very fair questions. My understanding is that the independent chair for the lookback on the cases that were closed during the Covid pandemic is due to be appointed very shortly. We will certainly keep everybody across the House updated on that. The Deputy is right that this case raises very significant issues. In the first case we need to try to establish as many facts as we possibly can. We then need to work collaboratively across this House to make sure that our legislative basis is right. There will be a couple of opportunities to do this: the commitment in relation to the Child Care Act to increase the powers of Tusla and provide for interagency co-operation; and also the commitment to put the national review panel on a statutory footing.

I do not want to overcommit until the facts are established. The point the Deputy made about the need for those checks to just become somewhat automatic is not unfair. We live in a world and a country that are much more transient. While I am not talking about this specific case, I am not sure we could just take the word of somebody that someone was just in one school and presume that they moved to another. How we close those loops is a legitimate policy question and we would be happy to work constructively with the Deputy on it.

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