Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for accepting this important issue. I welcome the publication of the Garda Inspectorate's report Responding to Child Sexual Abuse, a report which was provided to the Government at the end of 2010. This report was initiated by the previous Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and it was important it was done, as is highlighted by the serious issues which have come to light since publication of the report yesterday. The report shows that all has not been done well in terms of how agencies of State have dealt with child sexual abuse and with the reporting and handling of these cases over the years. We are well aware of this from the inquiries that have been held over recent years into the church and into how gardaí and the HSE handled the reporting of those crimes.

The Garda Inspectorate's report raises particular concerns. For example it showed delays in recording of reports of child sexual offences, which then resulted in intelligence gaps. It showed a failure to make timely entries in the PULSE system, exposing children to continuing risk. Basic record keeping was poor and as a result the official crime records did not capture up to 65% of sex crimes. The report also showed that in almost one-third of cases, details of investigations had been entered into the PULSE computer database, but had not been classified as criminal offences and were, therefore, missing from the overall crime figures. More worrying is the fact the report showed there were turf wars between the Garda and the HSE in terms of how reports were dealt with. It showed inadequate co-operation between the Garda and the HSE in the investigation of child sex abuse to ensure that investigations were done promptly. In a sample of cases in Dublin, the report showed that plans as to how complaints would be investigated between the Garda and the HSE had only been developed and put together in 1% of cases. This is unacceptable.

I want the Minister of State to outline here what has happened with regard to the recommendations made in the Garda Inspectorate's report since it was left on the Minister's desk well over a year ago. Many of the recommendations are straightforward and urgent. They need to be implemented in order to ensure that some of the mistakes of the past are not repeated. Will the Minister of State outline what has happened in terms of implementing those recommendations? Although the report was only published yesterday, the Government has had it for a long time. I would expect significant progress to have been made in that time in terms of dealing with many of the recommendations and problems highlighted in the report.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am taking the debate on behalf of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, who is attending a North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Armagh today. She regrets that she cannot be here.

I note that this debate stems from a report in today's The Irish Times on the Garda Inspectorate report on responding to child sexual abuse, which refers to a turf war between the HSE and An Garda Síochána on the issue of child sexual abuse cases. I wish to make it clear to the House at the outset that is no such turf war between the HSE and the Garda Síochána on this issue, nor is this contention contained in the report itself. The issue of child protection is one that the HSE and the Garda Síochána are totally committed to addressing in a co-operative manner.

I wish to place this issue in its proper context by quoting directly from the Garda Inspectorate report, Responding to Child Sexual Abuse.

The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) recognises that turf issues will inevitably arise when work begins on a multi-disciplinary response to child abuse. Turf issues are the result of each agency or professional group's identification of its own mandate, and the concerns that somehow the co-operation that is being sought will negatively affect this mandate. ... The important dynamic with turf issues is to recognise and confront them as they occur. Understanding why these issues have come to the forefront is key.

This statement clearly seeks to comment on so-called turf issues in the general sense and is not a statement aimed particularly at either the HSE or the Garda authorities. In addition the Garda Inspectorate report states, "There is no doubting the declared commitments of the (then) OMCYA, the Garda Síochána and the HSE to the protection of children from abuse".

The Garda Inspectorate report was prepared on foot of a direction from the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, following the publication of the commission of investigation's report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin in July 2009, issued on 26 November 2009. The report was published yesterday by the Minister for Justice and Equality. The purpose of the report was to conduct a comprehensive review of police practices for handling these very sensitive and important cases. In preparing the report, the inspectorate conducted a review of published reports relating to clerical sexual abuse but also considered the full spectrum of child sexual abuses perpetrated by a wide variety of offenders. The inspectorate states that only a holistic, collaborative approach by all statutory and voluntary agencies will make the difference that is required.

The Minister welcomes the report of the Garda Inspectorate and the response document. In particular she welcomes the emphasis throughout on the need for more effective inter-agency working in the area of child protection. This is an area which she considers critical as we progress a range of reforms necessary to strengthen the child welfare and protection system generally. In this regard, the Minister has published revised Children First guidance, the implementation of which is being overseen by an interdepartmental group including representatives of various Departments, the HSE and An Garda Síochána. There has also been good progress made in advancing preparatory work on the establishment of the new children and family support agency and on the preparation of legislation to underpin Children First.

The HSE has welcomed the report and noted the considerable progress which has been made since its preparation with regard to the development of child abuse services and in developing close liaison between the HSE and An Garda Síochána in a number of areas. The HSE children and family services are engaged in a major programme of reform. A major element of the change agenda in 2012 involves implementing consistent child protection procedures in line with the revised national guidelines which were published last year, namely, Children First 2011. As part of the drive to improve the response to child abuse, the HSE developed the child protection and welfare handbook, National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, which is a reference text for practitioners. This handbook was launched by the Minister with the HSE and An Garda Síochána. In addition, a programme of joint training involving HSE staff and members of An Garda Síochána on the implementation of Children First has been progressing since last year.

Let me reiterate that there is no turf war between the HSE and An Garda Síochána on this issue. Instead, we are now seeing real progress in implementing inter-agency working in the child protection area, something which was lacking for far too long.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The report shows the importance of putting the Children First guidelines on a statutory basis. I urge the Minister of State and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to ensure that this work is done as quickly as possible. It highlights how our State agencies, which are responsible for protecting children and for ensuring that safeguards are in place so that abuse can be prevented and dealt with, were not working well together in the past and have not been following the Children First guidelines to the full in recent years.

Putting these guidelines on a statutory basis is critical but we cannot just legislate our way out of this and legislate our way towards better child protection practices. We also have to ensure that the resources are put in place. At a time when the Government is cutting the resources of the Garda and at a time when there are additional pressures on our social work system, we need to ensure that the resources and trained personnel are there so that the situations highlighted by the inspectorate's report are dealt with.

I am also disappointed that the publication of this report has not been accompanied by an update from the Government on the 19 recommendations contained within it. The Government has had this report for over 14 months. I would have thought that an item by item update on the 19 recommendations that are part of it would have been an appropriate response. I ask the Minister of State to give more detail on that and to its importance upon the Minister. What does she intend to do to ensure they are being implemented as quickly as possible?

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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We all share a concern about this issue. I know that the Minister has been very involved in addressing it and it is being treated with absolute urgency in her Department. There is a clear focus on developing child protection services and the interaction between the different agencies. It is important to recognise the positive findings on the high level of co-operation between the Garda and the HSE that has been achieved, although we still have some way to go on that.

I am happy to relay the Deputy's concerns to the Minister about putting the Children First guidelines on a statutory footing. I will send her a note to that effect.