Caít Keane (Fine Gael)

I will refrain from repetition because much of what I intended to say has been said by others. I thank the Minister for her contribution. I thank Senator van Turnhout and the various groups, including my group, for supporting this motion. This matter has been debated for so long that it is time for action to be taken on it. That is what we are about here. Nothing is more important for anybody than a child. When a child goes missing, that is the most serious thing. Obviously, it is a legal issue as well as an organisational one.

EU legislation makes it mandatory for this hotline to be available in every member state. It is not its availability that is the problem - it has been available in Ireland - but the take-up of its availability. That is why the Minister has stepped in to say she has established a new project team comprising representatives of the Garda Síochána, various Departments and ComReg. I hope the team will draw up some proposals and recommendations. The Minister said this will happen in 2012. Like Senator van Turnhout, I will keep an eye on this matter to ensure the 2012 deadline is met. Regardless of what we do, there will be a cost. If it were merely a question of putting in place a hotline and publicising a telephone number, that would have already been done by many of the organisations that deal with children. There are additional costs, however.

We do not need to re-invent the wheel. I recommend that we consider which aspects of this service could be provided by each of the organisations that are working with children at the moment. At the end of the day, it will fall to the Garda to go looking for the missing children. We do not want to establish various new quangos. The aim of this Government is to reduce the number of quangos. We have to support the organisations that are working in this area. We support the Missing in Ireland Support Service, or MISS as it is known. If MISS and other organisations were given additional support, they could have the capacity to take on certain aspects of the service. All of the organisations dealing with children should be brought around the table and asked what they have to offer. The service could then be co-ordinated centrally.

In some European countries, this service is provided by community organisations that are co-ordinated by local or county authorities. That might be the best way to proceed. I would be the first person to say that an onus cannot be put on a local authority without back-up funding being provided. The Minister should keep that in mind when she is considering the matter. I compliment the 16 European countries that have put this service in place. I hope the Minister will be back here in the not too distant future to give us details of the actual proposals and recommendations she is bringing on stream to put it in place here.