Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

The Senators asked a number of questions I would like to address. I thank them for their constructive contributions, for agreeing to this motion by the deadline of 22 May and for postponing the discussion until today. I have listened carefully to their points in this debate. The commission's final report is expected to be finished in November 2008 and published by the end of January 2009.

Many Senators rightly focused on what is happening today and procedures for the future of child protection, despite the fact that this motion deals with the past, and I welcome this focus. The primary statutory responsibility for child protection lies with the Health Service Executive, HSE, and the role of the Department of Education and Science is to provide guidance and support to schools in implementing child protection policy, apply proper child protection procedures and refer any allegations received to the appropriate authorities for investigation. The Department of Education and Science has issued child protection guidelines to all primary and post-primary schools. In February 2007 the Department of Education and Science issued revised internal guidelines on procedures which have been circulated to all persons employed by the Department. The guidelines were based on the Children First document, the national guidelines of the Department of Health and Children. The purpose of these guidelines is to provide direction and guidance to staff in dealing with any allegations or complaints of abuse made to the Department. It goes without saying that the Department of Education and Science will conduct a review of its procedures in light of the publication of the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the review of Children First — the national child protection guidelines, and in the event of the ratification of the children's referendum. An ongoing review is under way in this regard.

Child protection guidelines have issued to primary and post-primary schools on the handling and reporting of child abuse, in line with the Children First policy document. The Department has provided training to designated liaison persons on the implementation of the guidelines. Child protection issues have been examined as part of a range of measures that include the Stay Safe programme.

Regarding making guidelines mandatory, on foot of the recent report known as the McElwee report an interdepartmental group has been established to consider its recommendations, including the recommendation to place the guidelines on a statutory basis. It will report its findings to the office of the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children with responsibility for children, Deputy Barry Andrews.

Senator Quinn and others mentioned out-of-hours services by social workers. In this regard the Minister of State, Deputy Andrews, has placed on the record his appreciation for work carried out by social work teams and management. These individuals are hard working and dedicated and routinely deal with cases that are becoming ever more difficult, complex and intractable. Regarding social work provision, I am aware that social work out-of-hours service proposals are under consideration by the Health Service Executive. The Minister of State with responsibility for children will examine these in the context of the Department of Health and Children to see how the service can best be introduced nationwide. Notwithstanding this move towards a national approach, there are a number of out-of-hours service arrangements in operation to partially cover the service around the country, for example, dealing with homelessness in Dublin. I accept what Senators have said in this regard.

Regarding the child welfare and protection policy unit, child protection is a key part of the agenda of the office of the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children with responsibility for children. More than €240 million in additional funding has been provided since 1997 in the areas of child welfare, family support and child protection. An extensive programme of specialised residential provision for a small number of children and a range of other child welfare and family support services have been put in place in recent years. The HSE informs me it has created more than 300 new social work posts since the start of 2005.

Senator O'Sullivan and others mentioned vetting, and special arrangements for newly qualified teachers are co-ordinated through the Teaching Council. Existing teachers are currently not vetted but the Department is working with the appropriate authorities to consider how best to put arrangements in place as the roll-out of the Garda vetting unit expands. Irrespective of the position on vetting, where facts are brought to the attention of a school, it must be vigilant in checking references and probing any gaps in records.

Senator Quinn mentioned Church of Ireland institutions. Section 4 of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 sets out the criteria which must be met in order for an institution to be considered eligible for inclusion in the Schedule of the Act. The religious ethos of an institution is not one of those criteria and has never been considered by the Department of Education and Science in deciding whether an institution should be included. However, it does appear that 19 non-Catholic institutions are mentioned in the Schedule, five of which have a Protestant ethos.

I thank Senators for their contributions and for their support of this motion.