Mary Henry (Independent)

Some months ago when the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, was in the House I pointed out that it had been brought to my attention that there were very serious difficulties regarding the supervision of children in the care of the State in some areas. We read in newspaper reports yesterday and today that two very young girls in the care of health boards are pregnant. I do not know if these pregnancies occurred before the children went into the care of the State but there are serious difficulties in finding adequate and well-trained staff to supervise them. I have talked to the Minister of State outside the House too about this but I would like the Leader to invite him back so that we can address this very serious issue because if we take children into our care we all have a responsibility to ensure they are adequately supervised. I am very slow to criticise the health boards because they have serious problems trying to find staff to deal with these children. Nevertheless we must address the issue because they are some of the most vulnerable children in the State.