Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State with responsibility for children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, to the House and wish him well in his new job where much progress has been made. There is always change in politics, but this area is changing at a rapid rate.

While the Minister of State was speaking, I was thinking his departmental responsibilities could be divided into three sections, infants, children and adolescents. Each of these areas requires its own legislation and expertise. While much work has been done, there are gaps in the service. I hope the Minister of State will take my point on board as something constructive rather than critical. I put a question to the Minister for Education and Science during the summer and was amazed to learn that 1,800 children were unaccounted for after leaving primary school over the past four years. There was no account of where these children were once they left primary school.

Another issue of concern is the delay that often exists in bringing cases of sexual abuse to court. I am aware of some of these in my area. It is not good that children who have suffered sexual abuse who face the trauma of a court case sometimes see the perpetrator of the crime walking about their town or village and appearing to get away with their crime. We need more speed in bringing these cases to court. Gardaí are often frustrated in this regard also as they are doing their best to bring forward prosecutions and to present the book of evidence. This should not be the case.

The Office of the Minister for Children must consider beefing-up or strengthening the role of the Ombudsman for Children. The ombudsman attended the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children recently, but it appears her powers are quite weak. It is time to move on to phase 2 and strengthen her powers so that she can investigate areas where we fail children. It is a major weakness of the role that the ombudsman cannot investigate areas where the State does not provide services. A significant gap exists which needs to be filled, otherwise it is pointless having an ombudsman.

The National Educational Psychological Service has been withdrawn from many schools and some schools have received only a fraction of their allocated hours compared to last year. This is not satisfactory as it leads to long waiting lists for speech and language therapy or to see a behavioural psychologist.

I refer to a case from my constituency where an 18 year old girl has threatened to kill her mother. She was sentenced to six months in Mountjoy Prison. There is no help for that girl or her mother. It is a question of passing the parcel and nobody is taking responsibility or is being held accountable. The mother is terrified of what will happen when her daughter is released from prison. I am aware of a case where an 11 year old daughter is almost as bad and has threatened to kill her mother while she is sleeping. Such adolescents require help, in particular those in the 15 to 18 year category who are too young to be put in residential units and are too old to be in paediatric units.

The report refers to the lack of detailed information. When the issue of suicide was recently considered by the sub-committee of the Joint Committee on Health and Children, we discovered there is no information available for adolescents about waiting times for psychiatric services. The report states that there may be 100,000 more 15 to 17 year olds in the population in three or four years' time. It is a case of constantly playing catch-up. It is vital that the Department plans ahead and is proactive rather than merely acting in a reactive fashion.

A total of 40,000 non-national children are resident in the country, many of whom are in urban areas. Their presence presents many challenges in schools including language barriers. Resources to help those children and their teachers must be put in place.

It is unfortunate that Ireland features as top of the list in many areas such as in alcohol and drug abuse. In the period 1995 to 2003, there has been a 10% jump in the number of children who have drank five or more drinks in a row. We have made progress in the wrong direction in those eight years. Ireland is one of the top three countries in Europe with regard to alcohol consumption and among the top five European countries where children use illicit drugs other than marijuana. Much progress has been made but there is a lot more work to do.