Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Andrews. To put this in context, the Fine Gael motion states:

That the Monageer report in full be referred to the Joint Committee on Health and Children for the committee's consideration both of the substance of the report and to determine whether it should be published in full and submissions requested on the recommendations made in the report.

The Government amendment, in that context, sounds general enough and, contingent on legal advice, the Labour Party will support the Fine Gael Private Members' motion. It is most important we see transparency and accountability, particularly regrading the recommendations of this report.

I wish to begin by touching on the whole issue of mental health and suicide and, to use the Minister of State's own term, familicide. How many of us thought two years ago we would be discussing such an appalling tragedy in this House? It is so sad that just over two years ago, Adrian Dunne, his wife Ciara and their two small girls, Shania and Leanne, died in appallingly tragic circumstances. The whole country was touched and saddened by the horror that visited that household on the day or night in question.

It is linked to the issue of mental health. Despite the efforts made, there is still a major taboo regarding mental health and, in particular, negative mental health. I am reminded of the television campaign which ran in recent times, and used a succession of people of all nationalities and ethnic backgrounds, and people who were or were not famous, who all spoke about mental health. It is a question of whether it is positive or negative.

There is still a major taboo about it. A lot needs to be done to help people who have negative mental health, such as providing community facilities and home services. I do not think anyone in this House does not know somebody who, unfortunately, has been affected by depression. We all know it leads, in some cases, to a situation where people feel they cannot go on and, unfortunately, revert to suicide. The difference between that general affliction for the population and this case is that, unfortunately, the warning signs were all there. The alarm bells did go off but for a variety of reasons no action was taken.

No matter how we attempt to understand it, we will never understand the thinking behind this appalling tragedy. What makes it all the more gut-wrenching is the fact that there were warning signs. It almost defies belief that no action was taken when somebody who on the face of it appeared to be healthy and to have a healthy partner and children attended an undertaker and inquired about ordering two coffins for adults and two coffins for children. It is tragic to say the least, with horrifying consequences, that the non-professional in this case in terms of health services, namely, the undertaker, raised the issue with the health professionals. We heard much in recent days from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse about what was covered up, but in this case the clergy also brought the case to the attention of the health professionals. It is sadly ironic that the non-professionals in this case acted above and beyond the call of duty.

The other side of the argument is that the professionals, in particular the social workers, were operating a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday service. In an ideal world it might be possible to do so, but in reality one cannot switch off one's afflictions involving negative mental health on a Friday at 5 p.m. and turn it back on Monday morning when people are back in the office. I do not wish to apportion blame to the social workers or the Garda. I am just touching on the circumstances leading up to this appalling tragedy. For example, members of the legal profession were all aware of the case but there was a complete and absolute breakdown in communications. If we are to learn anything, surely to God we can have an out-of-hours service that is meaningful and resourced with staff who are ready to attend to situations where it is clear the safety, health and welfare of children is at such huge risk.

I am forced to use words such as "sad" and "tragic" repeatedly. One of the findings of the report suggested that intervention might not have prevented the tragedy. We are aware that the late Mr. Dunne was anything but transparent in his dealing with the Health Service Executive. That makes it even sadder to think that if intervention were available it might not have saved this family.

The report on the Monageer inquiry contains 26 recommendations, including seven that have been blacked out. I am aware the Minister of State has received legal advice and he has a legal background himself. Legally, there is a good case for such an approach but it does nothing in terms of the lessons we need to learn from this incident if we say the legal advice is that we cannot do it. We need to put in place a remedy for that. We need to make the information that was blacked out available, if not to the Oireachtas joint committee then to the Houses in some shape or form at least to create the impression that we are beginning to understand the full import of what happened and that we are willing to implement the recommendations.

One of the recommendations is that where a member of the Garda Síochána receives a report and has reasonable grounds for believing there is an immediate and serious risk to the health and welfare of a child, he or she should take immediate action to ensure the safety of the child and, where necessary, to invoke section 12 of the Child Care Act. The inquiry team also highlighted the public health nursing service offered to children under five as being critical in identifying children in need of intervention. That goes back to the point on the importance of the provision of the resources and necessary powers to intervene. Unfortunately, in this particular case the report tells us we might not have prevented the tragedy. The report went on to say that it was unclear whether the systems currently in place are sufficient and recommended a review.

If we are to learn anything about the appalling tragedies in this particular case we must ensure we have a full publication of the recommendations and the Government takes action. I say that as sensitively as I can. We need to take action to ensure no one loses his or her life unnecessarily. On the face of it, the Monageer case looked like a suicide and three murders. However, that is not the case. What happened is simply appalling but we need to learn from it and to implement the report's recommendations in full. For the sake of others who may be in that type of situation where the risk is high, I urge the Minister of State to ensure the resources are in place to deal with them.