Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 44: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her views on the recent report of the Ombudsman for Children based on an investigation on the implementation of Children First: National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children; if she will detail the actions that she has taken to protect children at risk; her future plans in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20559/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the publication last week of the ombudsman's report on Children First. The report identifies many of the implementation difficulties highlighted in previous reviews of the Children First guidelines. It acknowledges that planned and substantial steps were taken to implement the guidelines but also that efforts to drive forward implementation were not always sustained and were not sufficient at particular times. The investigation found that insufficient efforts were made by the HSE to drive forward implementation of the guidelines and identified the failure of the former health boards to resolve problems arising with Children First, including variable implementation. The report is also critical of the degree of inter-agency oversight and the role of the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in this regard. The adverse findings focus in particular on the period 2003 to 2007.

The Children First guidelines have now been revised and take into account the findings of previous reviews and some comments put forward by the ombudsman. The newly revised guidelines will be supported by a detailed and comprehensive implementation framework which will apply across all sectors. This framework will include emphasis on robust implementation assurance systems including inspection and audits. I will be bringing proposals to Government shortly in this regard.

Successive Ministers have taken a series of initiatives since the publication of Children First in 1999 to improve the quality of children's lives and to protect children at risk. The legislative and policy framework has been significantly strengthened through the passage of major pieces of legislation, such as the Children Act 2001, the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002, the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2007, and the continuing passage of new legislation through the Oireachtas including the Adoption Bill 2009 and the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2009. Key policy initiatives include the agenda for children's services, the Government's implementation plan following the Ryan report, the Irish Youth Justice service strategy, the youth homelessness strategy, and the report of the working group on foster care.

Major developments have also taken place at service level including the establishment and expansion of the Social Services Inspectorate under HIQA; the development of national standards for children in the care of the State; the continued development of special care units for vulnerable children, expansion of the Garda vetting services; the establishment of the children's services committees; the creation of a new management position in the HSE at senior management level with responsibility for child and family social services; the development of standardised service delivery and business processes within the HSE; the development of a knowledge management strategy for child welfare and protection services; and the development of a sustainable and cost-effective solution for the provision of out-of-hours services for gardaí who remove children under section 12 of the Child Care Act 1991. The Government is committed to building on the existing legislative and policy framework and to taking any additional actions deemed necessary to ensure greater protection for children at risk.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Does the Minister of State not regard it as slightly odd, both in this House and in a statement he issued on the publication of the ombudsman's report, to welcome the publication of a report which makes two findings of maladministration or unsound administration against the Department in the area of child protection and nine findings of maladministration or unsound administration against the HSE with regard to implementation of the Children First guidelines? Can the Minister of State explain, in the context of the first finding of unsound administration against his Department why, despite all the public statements made, for almost eight years little was done that mattered to ensure the uniform application of the Children First guidelines across the country?

In respect of the second finding of unsound administration, can the Minister of State explain why he, the Minister, Deputy Harney, who is sitting beside him, and his predecessors as Ministers for children, either concealed and-or did nothing about an ongoing dispute involving the IMPACT trade union, originally the health boards in 2002 all the way up to today's date with the Health Service Executive, in which IMPACT directed social workers in various local health offices across the eastern region not to apply various parts of the Children First guidelines, to the detriment of children? Why was that kept secret? Why had there been no intervention of any description to resolve that dispute to ensure children are properly protected?

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I welcomed the report in the first instance because it is a good report which gives a good summary of the way in which efforts have been made to implement the Children First guidelines uniformly throughout the State. I would not expect the Deputy to refer to the positive progress identified by the ombudsman, particularly in reference to the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. She observed that planned steps had been taken to implement the Children First guidelines and that those steps were substantial. She further remarked that it was clear "considerable efforts" were made to implement the guidelines, particularly in the earlier years following its publication, and that the multitude of reviews point to the policy priority accorded their implementation by the Government. She acknowledges that since 2008 considerable progress has been made in trying to tackle what is described as "differential compliance". I adverted to some of those developments in my reply.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I wish to allow time for another supplementary question.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am eager to tackle the Deputy's two specific questions on administration. The second one is-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Time is almost up for this question, so I propose to allow a further supplementary question.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I would certainly like to hear the Minister of State's response to the two questions raised. Is he not ashamed of a report - which he describes as a good report - that documents total incompetence by the Health Service Executive and the Department in ensuring the application across the State of the Children First guidelines? Is he not ashamed that the lessons that were supposed to have been learned from the tragic deaths of Tracey Fay and David Foley clearly were not learned? Moreover, last weekend the remains of another young man, Daniel McAnaspie, were found. I drew his case to the attention of the House last February, when the Minister of State criticised me for naming him and for expressing concern about his circumstances-----

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I expressed no such criticism of the Deputy.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Is the Minister of State not ashamed that a failure of the Health Service Executive to provide proper care to this young man has contributed to his tragic death? Can he tell this House truthfully that everything possible has been done by the Government to ensure the application of the Children First guidelines since 1999? Will he acknowledge that his party in government has failed to a scandalous and abysmal degree to protect children? Will he indicate to the House that there will be an independent inquiry into the tragic death of Daniel McAnaspie and give an assurance that those appointed to it are not selected by the Health Service Executive?

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I absolutely reject the Deputy's unfair claims. The Government committed €15 million to this area in the last budget at a time of retrenchment in almost every other Department and within the Department of Health and Children itself.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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This is 2010. The guidelines introduced in 1999 have not yet been implemented.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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That funding will be applied to the recruitment of 200 additional social workers. Any fair analysis of this situation will show that I am absolutely committed to the delivery of improved compliance with the Children First guidelines. That is central to the taskforce on the standardisation of business processes. It is central to our commitment in the last budget to the roll-out of additional social workers and to the entire framework for the implementation plan following the Ryan report. The Children First guidelines are in and of themselves robust. We must not only ensure compliance on a statutory footing with those guidelines but also ensure the capacity to audit the various sectors with responsibility for their delivery.

In regard to the case of Daniel McAnaspie, I join with everybody in the House in expressing our deepest regret to his family on the tragedy that has befallen them. I understand the Deputy intends to raise this matter on the Adjournment. We will provide further details of our response at that time.

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Are the Minister of State and his colleagues not ashamed at the number of children who have died in the past ten years because of a failure to implement the Children First guidelines?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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That concludes Priority Questions.