Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and would like to bring him up to date. For the past week we in the Chamber have been constantly discussing the Ryan commission inquiry into child abuse. The bottom line is that our country does not value children's lives. The Ryan commission highlighted that tens of thousands of defenceless children were abused, physically, emotionally and sexually under the care of the State. Sharon Grace was depressed and walked into the hospital in Wexford seeking help. As it was out of hours for the HSE, she took her two children aged four and three, went to Kaats Strand and drowned herself and her two children. Very recently we have had the case of neglect by the mother and incest in Roscommon. There was total and utter neglect of those children. There was also the Monageer tragedy that we are discussing today. There is a litany of children who are ignored by the State. Many of us in the Chamber believe hundreds of children are at risk because of the lack of proper systems.

If I were the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, I would immediately take the initiative to have social workers available after hours and at weekends. It is unforgivable that in this civilised country we do not have social workers available after 5 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays, and that we do not have an after-hours helpline that people can ring at a time of crisis. In the earlier debate on the report of the Ryan commission, I said that most of the abuse in reformatory schools took place at night. Many of those people cannot sleep and need help during the night when all that is available is the doctor on call or to visit the accident and emergency unit. For God's sake, that is not good enough. In the North there is a 24-hour service that people can ring. Thankfully we have the Samaritans. However, that is a voluntary group. Our State has an obligation to the children of this country. The Ryan report made it clear that tens of thousands of children were abused under the care of the State. Not having an out-of-hours social workers service is also neglect by the State. I find it unforgivable and cannot understand it.