Mary Henry (Independent)

I will furnish the Minister of State with particulars. Some children are sent to this country in the hope they will be with other family members. In other cultures it is not unusual to send children to families who are considered to be in a better position. However, in some cases it is hard to know if they end up with these families. Some have gone missing. For example, a girl who had been taken into the care of the State was placed in Crumlin Hospital but she went missing. I do not know if the State has managed to locate her, but these situations are worrying. I can vouch for that incident because I know of it from the papers.

This is an area where we do not want to say in five or ten years how we wished we had tried to do more. I realise how difficult it is for the State and the health boards, but we have a duty to these children given that they come into our care under international obligations. The fact that there is a shortage of staff and that we have said we have done the best we can, may appear pretty shabby in the long run. I am aware that the health boards are trying to do their best to get care for these children by advertising, even abroad. However, I am sure the Minister of State is aware of the grave shortage of workers in this area. I hope when what happened 20 or 30 years ago is examined, we remind ourselves that we do not want such children to accuse us in future of not having taken adequate care of them in the situation in which they now find themselves.