Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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9. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which she remains satisfied regarding safety, well-being and welfare of children in State institutions or otherwise under State care; the extent to which monitoring and reporting services remains available; the degree to which reports are followed up; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6574/14]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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197. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which she is satisfied regarding the safety and well-being of children in the care of the State, in State institutions or otherwise; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7181/14]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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These questions relate to the need for the proper structures to be in place to ensure that children will receive adequate protection. Such structures are necessary, particularly in light of past events. Will the Minister indicate the provisions that are in place to ensure that children who report incidents can have their cases heard at an early date?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 197 together.

Under the Child Care Act 1991 and the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, the newly established Child and Family Agency has a statutory duty to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection. The placement of children in care is governed by regulations. These provide for the welfare of children and for care practices, care records, accommodation and safety precautions to be overseen. The regulations also provide that a social worker oversees the implementation of a care plan, visits the child to whom it relates and sees him or her in private and reads the records relating to the child in the centre. That is the practice which obtains. Depending on their needs, children may often be placed in foster care. We are very lucky that the vast majority - over 90% - of children in care are either with relatives or general foster carers. A minority of children in care are the subject of residential care, high support care, special care or other placement types.

It is important to note that all children's services are inspected against regulation and national standards. The Health Information Quality Authority, HIQA, has played a particularly important role in this regard. The Deputy will be aware of the range of reports we received from HIQA during the past year on residential settings. The Child and Family Agency is obliged to respond to each of those reports, indicate the action it is taking and address the issues which have been identified. Last year, I asked HIQA to take responsibility not just for residential settings, but to examine the position with regard to child protection teams. We have already received a number of reports from it on the services being provided by those teams.

This is a work in progress and there are variations in standards. We want to move towards national consistency in terms of adherence to absolute best practice. There are some very bad legacy issues in respect of these services and change will not happen overnight. However, in the context of the reports it compiled in recent months, HIQA has returned to matters it examined previously and discovered that huge improvements have been made. An example in this regard is the special care unit at Ballydowd, of which there had been criticism. The most recent report on the unit was extremely positive. The same is true of Waterford. HIQA returned to it, examined the services on offer and provided a much more positive report.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for her comprehensive reply. To what extent has the definition of the word "care" been examined? For example, does a duty of care constitute someone being in the care of the State? I refer here to people in schools, other State institutions and public or private recreational facilities. To what extent does the concept of duty of care apply in this regard and are those in such schools, institutions or facilities deemed to be in care?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Yes. The definition is very broad and once a child is in care of the State, it is effectively acting in loco parentis. Essentially, what is involved here is promoting the safety, well-being and welfare of children. That is very clearly spelled out in the legislation and it guides the work being done in respect of children in care. It is important that the Deputy has highlighted this matter. We have a very responsibility to the 6,000 plus children in the care of the State. One of the initiatives I want to take relates to the adoption of a cross-departmental view of children who are in care. In that context, I will ask the Departments of Health and the Environment, Community and Local Government, which deals with housing, to be aware of the needs of these children not just while they are in care, but when they leave it and are in aftercare. In the coming weeks I will be bringing to Government legislation to provide for a statutory right to assessment for aftercare in respect of children who have been in care.