Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

Amendments Nos. 10, 12 and 16 are concerned with inspections by the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA. The authority allowing HIQA to conduct inspections of children's residential facilities and services, including the special care units, an issue the House will discuss tonight, is provided under the provisions of section 69 of the Child Care Act 1991. Amendment No. 10 introduces a new section 25 which makes the powers provided under section 69 of the 1991 Act more robust and includes any services and children's residential facilities provided under the Child Care Act by persons taking care of a child on behalf of the HSE.

Amendment No. 12 introduces a new section 33 and relates to the amending of the Health Act 2007. Section 33 amends the Act in order that it will be possible for special care units to come within the definition of "designated centre", as provided for in the Health Act 2007. This will mean that special care units, as provided for in the Bill, will be subject to the inspection provisions of the Health Act 2007. The effect of amendment No. 12 is to allow for special care units to be subject to the relevant provisions of the Health Act 2007, that is, that these special care units will come under the HIQA inspection regime under that Act when the relevant provisions are commenced. This is achieved by deleting a reference in section 75(2)(a) of the Health Act 2007 to the term "special care unit" and in section 75(2)(b)(iii) to the words "or (d)".

Amendment No. 16 is a technical amendment to the transitional provisions of the Bill. Its effect is that the relevant date referred to in section 48(9) will be taken as the date on which section 33 of the Bill comes into operation. It, therefore, brings certainty to the definition. As previously stated, section 33 amends the Health Act 2007 to allow special care units to be inspected under the provisions of that Act.