Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

A child could have a legal guardian who is not a parent. The legislation is silent on that issue and I intend to examine it. A parent may not be disclosed by the other parent, as Senator Tuffy suggested. That can arise. The more inquiries one imposes on a social worker, the slower the process of child protection will be. This is a reality we must face as legislators. The purpose of protection is to protect a child in a particular context. The child is cared for and protected by the person who has custody of him or her or who stands in a relationship to the child.

We gave the courts a function to have regard to the wishes of parents generally in respect of children, and that is in the legislation. To go down the road Senator Tuffy suggests would mean writing into the legislation a positive obligation on the HSE to establish whether these parties exist. Inevitably that will add a further level of complexity to what is already an extremely difficult operation for all concerned. That said, Senator Tuffy has raised a serious question and I will examine it further.