Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 5: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the details of the seven recommendations made in the report published on 12 May 2009 on the Monageer inquiry which are blacked out in the report; and the reason submissions to the committee of inquiry by persons in respect of whom adverse findings were on page 10 of the report to be published with the report in redacted form and appended to the report have not been so published. [20740/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am not in a position to comment on any of the content of the report that has been redacted following legal advice, and that includes recommendations so affected. I indicated at the outset that I was determined to publish as much of the report as was possible following legal advice and in the public interest, and that is the context in which the redacted report was published on 12 May, 2009. The report is very strong in its criticisms, and the Government is determined to meet its commitment to address issues around service provision for children and families most in need of assistance.

The CEO of the HSE and the Garda Commissioner received the full report in their capacities as heads of the statutory bodies with responsibilities in regard to matters which were the subject of the inquiry. It is intended that this will enable all the recommendations, including those redacted, to be addressed in so far as they apply to their respective organisations. At the time of seeking legal advice I also asked for a determination in regard to the publication of the submissions appended to the report. The legal advice I received was that the content of the submissions should not be published. All the redactions in this report have been done solely on legal advice. I am considering the option of apprising the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children of the substance of the redacted recommendations in a manner and context that ensures the rights of those involved are protected and no reputational damage is suffered. That process is ongoing and I am seeking legal advice in that regard.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Can I put it to the Minister of State that the culture of secrecy and cover-up is alive and well in his Department? Can I put it to him that it is the type of culture that led to the tragedies depicted in the report published by the commission yesterday? Can I put to him that his response to this issue is an entirely institutional response and not a common sense human response on how matters should be dealt with? This tragic case resulted in the lives of two children being taken. The report that was published on it has disclosed serious systemic problems within our child care services of a nature that we have seen in other reports.

In the report published yesterday, the Department of Education and Science was criticised for giving undue deference to the church and church bodies, and not giving priority to the welfare of children. The congregations were criticised for giving priority to avoiding scandal and publicity as a consequence of the perpetration of abuse on children, rather than giving priority to the safety of children. It seems that the priority of the Minister of State and the Government is to protect reputations of State agencies and State employees, and that is the reason given for not publishing this report and its recommendations in full.

The priority that needs to be given is a priority to the welfare of children. Will the Minister of State accept that he is not giving that priority? There is no possibility of transparency or accountability in circumstances in which seven specific recommendations are blacked out of this report, which is the first time in the history of the State that this has happened. An inquiry has been conducted and recommendations made to improve services or change laws - I do not know what is in them - have been censored and concealed from the public and from Members of this House. The Minister of State's alternative suggestion of briefing a committee of the House is grossly inadequate.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I have said it before and I will repeat that I had no obligation to publish anything in this report. I was anxious to publish as much of it as I could, subject to the legal advice that I received. If we were in the business of cover up, none of the report would have been published. The most hard hitting recommendations would not have been published. Those parts that were not published were not published for specific, legal reasons and not for any other reason. The suggestions by Deputy Shatter that we are in the business of protecting reputations at the expense of the welfare of children is a false dichotomy. We must respect the fact that this was a non-statutory inquiry with which people co-operated on the understanding that no adverse findings would be made against individuals.

I wanted to publish as much of the report as possible for both the public and health professionals to understand the circumstances that led to this terrible tragedy so that, in so far as possible, this would not happen again in the future.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

One of the central recommendations of the report published yesterday by the commission of inquiry into child abuse was that "management at all levels should be accountable for the quality of services and care". While the conclusions of this report were that even if the services had operated properly, the lives of the people concerned may not have been saved, nobody knows this for certain. There were major failings within the services, such as a lack of communication, a lack of availability of professionals, and wrong judgments made. The very out-of-hours service on which the Minister of State now wants to rely, whereby gardaí are to make judgments as to whether children should be taken temporarily into care on an emergency basis or not is contradicted by the report, which states that the gardaí did not regard themselves as qualified to make that assessment. That was the reason given for the drive-by of the house of this tragic family by the gardaí who visited the house.

For the Minister of State to suggest that he had no obligation to publish this report is to deny the fact that he is accountable to this House for children's services and social services that are applied to protect the welfare of children. Is the Minister of State telling this House that no matter what happens with regard to the areas that fall within his remit, he is not accountable? Will he accept that it was his predecessor and this Government who chose to make this a non-statutory inquiry? A statutory inquiry could have been held within the framework of the new legislation enacted during Michael McDowell's time as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It would have created no difficulty. In so far as there are legal difficulties, the redacted portion of the report, furnished by individuals in respect of whom some findings were made and allowing them to comment on it, addressed any such legal difficulties.

The Minister of State's response is an institutional response obsessed with protecting reputations, with no concept that any State employee, any State agency or even the Minister of State himself are accountable to this House for the manner in which our social services and child care services are run.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I reject all of that. I consider myself fully accountable to this House and to its committees. I discharge my responsibility with a great seriousness. I do not discharge it on an institutional basis, but to the best of my ability. Deputy Shatter referred to section 12 of the Child Care Act and the obligation of the Garda Síochána. That obligation exists and should be discharged. The HSE needs to co-operate with the Garda Síochána, which was one of the issues that came up regarding Children First. It is something on which we need to work all the time, to make sure that the relationship between the Garda and the HSE-----

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Gardaí are getting no special training on how to operate on that.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

-----and their obligations are understood among each other.

The Ryan commission report is an absolute catalogue of failure and neglect by the State and religious congregations. The Cabinet has undertaken to consider it next week, and a debate will take place in this House on 9 June. We will be able to go into it in more detail then.