Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for Health and Children when the report relating to the abuse of children (details supplied) and the failure of our child protection services to intervene appropriately and promptly to protect the welfare of the children will be published; the action taken following the publication of the report into the death of Kelly Fitzgerald in 1996 to attempt to ensure the failures of the Western Health Board documented in that report did not recur. [10663/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Health Service Executive that it expects to publish the report of the independent inquiry into the Roscommon abuse case in the coming weeks.

The report into the death of Kelly Fitzgerald, published in 1995, contained in excess of 40 recommendations. Those recommendations were presented to the then Western Health Board and adopted in full by it. Several of the report's recommendations required consideration at national level, including: the need for amendment of the Constitution to include a statement of the constitutional rights of children; the need for the establishment at a national level of a system for the setting and monitoring of child protection standards to promote examples of good practice and to inquire into serious failures of practice; and the need to introduce a system of mandatory reporting.

Issues relevant to the rights of the child have been considered by the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children which recently published its third and final report. That report will now be considered by Government. Issues relating to national guidelines for the protection and welfare of children and the conduct of reviews into serious incidents are addressed in the Government's implementation plan in response to the recommendation of the Ryan commission. The issue of mandatory reporting was previously considered. International evidence suggests that mandatory reporting can overload existing child protection systems with high volumes of reports, often resulting in no commensurate increase in substantiated cases. The concern, therefore, is that child protection resources would be diverted into an extensive administrative system with no guarantee of increased protection for children.

A number of the additional recommendations in the report highlighted the need for significantly improved and standardised business processes to ensure consistency in service delivery. In this regard the HSE recently has completed a national project designed to standardise the child welfare and protection business processes across all regions. The process of implementation is now being commenced.

The report into the death of Kelly Fitzgerald stated:

we do not believe it is possible to guarantee that children will not be abused but we believe that Health Boards, as child protection agencies, must aim to ensure that all children at risk are accurately identified and that intervention is effective in reducing the level of risk to a child or removing it altogether.

This remains a principal focus of the Government and its agencies as it seeks to strengthen the existing child welfare and protection system.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. As he is aware, the first part of the question relates to the barbaric abuse, both physical and sexual, perpetrated on children in County Roscommon, which resulted in the mother of children being convicted in the courts in January 2009. The father involved was convicted only recently and sentencing is due on Friday. Originally, it was promised that the report into the Roscommon tragedy would be published in July. My understanding is that its publication has been delayed for understandable reasons pending completion of the criminal prosecution. When the Minister of State stated the report will be published in a matter of weeks, what precisely is meant by that? Does he know whether the report essentially is complete? Does it merely await publication following sentencing, which is expected this Friday? Are there other issues the Minister of State anticipates will arise with regard to the publication of the report? It is clear, based on what already is known, that this report will depict yet another appalling failure by the Western Health Board in respect of this family to provide children with the protection to which they are entitled. I note it is the same health board that was criticised in the Kelly Fitzgerald report. Is it known whether the report in full will be published? Does the Minister of State know whether the report, as prepared, includes an audit of the extent to which, in the years that followed the publication of the Kelly Fitzgerald report, the Western Health Board failed to implement the recommendations contained therein? Will publication of the report require prior permission from either the mother or the father of the children who were the victims of abuse in Roscommon?

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I understand the report is substantially complete and that the issue of publication is related to the criminal prosecution and the sentencing which, as the Deputy observed, is due next Friday. Obviously, I have not seen it and cannot comment on what issues might arise in respect of publication. However, I assure the House that the inquiry is being chaired by a person in whom everyone in this House who is familiar with children's rights issues will have great confidence, namely, Norah Gibbons, and I have no doubt but that every effort will be made to ensure that the report is published. Members will be aware that it frequently arises that one must balance the rights of individuals to their good name and to privacy for families in particular, against the great public interest in knowing how such tragedies came to pass and to learn from them accordingly. As for publication, the inquiry will be published through the HSE, which will give all due consideration to the manner of its publication thereafter.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Will the Minister of State confirm that in the context of this report's publication, the primary issue must be the best interests of children, to ensure that we learn from what went wrong, to ensure that whatever action that possibly can be taken is taken to prevent a recurrence of the failures of this health board, which now is known to have failed children abysmally twice? In addition, will the Minister of State confirm that it is unacceptable to suggest that parents who have substantially failed their children or who have abused their children physically or sexually should be entitled to a veto on the publication of reports in the public interest to ensure the existence of a proper functioning child care system? Does the Minister of State agree it is a false analogy to suggest that some form of confidentiality would entitle parents who have failed their own children to exercise a veto over the full publication of reports into the failure of our social services to provide children with the protection to which they are entitled?

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Shatter obviously is trying to refer to the publication he effected this morning.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am referring specifically to this publication.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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He clearly is drawing an analogy with what he did this morning. It was most unfortunate and irresponsible to do so in the circumstances in which it was done. Had Deputy Shatter asked either the HSE or me, I would have been able to assure him that every step was being taken to try to effect that publication, having regard to balancing the rights to which I referred earlier.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State had that report for 12 months. He is hiding behind the unwillingness of the HSE-----

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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It is unfortunate that he should try to draw on that issue. However, if he insists on so doing-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Deputy Shatter, allow the Minister of State to reply.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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-----and its incapacity to communicate with a mother who had failed her children.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Deputy Shatter, please. The Deputy should not shout down people in the House.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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With due respect, the Minister of State was giving opinions rather than facts.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Minister headed into an issue-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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First-----

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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On a point of information-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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There is no such thing as a point of information, as a Deputy of such experience is aware.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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On a point of order, I specifically raised these issues only in the context of the Roscommon case that is the subject matter of this question. The Minister of State has now strayed into an entirely different case and has made an accusation that I am entitled to address.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Allow the Chair to determine. It is not a matter of addressing it now. The Minister of State is entitled to make his response and I had intended to call the Deputy again. However, my point is that everyone should be heard in this Chamber and should not be shouted down.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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With respect, Deputy Shatter is trying to ask everyone in this House and everyone who is watching this debate to suspend reality and to ignore what happened this morning. To state there is no analogy between what he is talking about now and what occurred this morning is simply a fantasy of his own making.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Minister of State should not be contentious in his reply.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise if I am being unnecessarily contentious but it is important to re-emphasise that difficulties always arise in respect of the publication of this type of report. It is crucial for public confidence in our child welfare and protection service that they are published. It is for this reason that the Government has ensured that HIQA will provide the HSE with guidance in the matter of serious incidents and deaths in care and that a panel will be established to effect proper and timely investigations and publication of reports.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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While we have gone over time, I had stated that I would allow Deputy Shatter ask a brief supplementary question that no doubt will be carefully constructed.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that. Is the Minister of State seriously suggesting, in the context of the issue he now has raised, that it was in the best interests of children generally in this State or in the interests of a functioning child care and protection service, that an eight-year old report should languish unpublished in his Department and on the shelves of the HSE for 12 months? It was a damning indictment of the complete failure of our child care services to provide for the protection of a child. Does the Minister of State seriously suggest that a mother who failed that child and who was reported in that report to have physically assaulted the child at the age of seven to the extent that two of the child's front teeth were removed, is entitled to exercise a veto in the public interest over the publication of that report? I will conclude by suggesting to the Minister of State that the public interest is that there should be transparency and accountability in our child care services to the maximum extent to ensure they truly protect children.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Deputy should not issue such challenges.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Covering up reports of this nature only suits the HSE or the health boards who are failing children or parents who have abused children.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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From the moment of my appointment, it became clear to me that child welfare and protection would have to be a priority in the discharge of my functions and this continues to be the case. One key element in the restoration of public trust in that part of our health service is to ensure that reports like these are published. To suggest, as has been suggested on the floor of this Chamber today, that there is a mentality of cover-up or a failure to try to effect transparency, is most inaccurate and unfair to people who work extremely hard in the interests of children. I will continue to try to effect the changes the Government announced following the Ryan report and the implementation plan arising from it.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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However, the Government has not published any of these reports.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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It is difficult to publish such reports. While no attempt is made to cover them up, it simply is a matter of trying to balance rights.