Mary White (Fianna Fail)

My colleague, Senator Paschal Mooney, and I know the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, better than most others in the House. As she knows, I believe in her and know that she will prioritise the issue of the establishment of a hotline for missing children. Former Senator Maria Corrigan and the then Senator Frances Fitzgerald spoke passionately about this issue last year. It had been drawn to their attention following the death of the young boy, Daniel McAnaspie, who went missing early last year. I attended his funeral and witnessed the pain and saw the tortured look on the faces of the members of his family. As a 17 year old, if he had had access to a hotline at the time he went missing, he might have been saved. His death brought the issue onto the radar strongly and there were calls for the establishment of a hotline at the time. The ISPCC stated the Government needed to establish the European telephone hotline number for missing children as a matter of urgency in order that no matter where a child was in Europe, including for those children who came here from other European countries and covered by the ERASMUS programme, he or she would be able to access the service. This would provide security for parents where a child was abducted.

The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children does amazing work and embarrassed the previous Government because of the lack of attention to and support for the organisation. I suggest the society be given the money to operate the hotline as it deserves funding and would not be able to do this through the Childline service. The volume of voluntary work carried out by the organisation is extraordinary.

I reiterate that the Minister, then a Senator, and former Senator Maria Corrigan pleaded last year for the establishment of the hotline. It is shameful that it has not yet been establishment, given the scandalous way children have been treated in our society, about which we continue to hear on an ongoing basis.

I thank the usher, Mr. Tim Hayes, for valiantly using his initiative and skills to obtain a copy of the Minister's speech for us. She stated:

The skills and mechanisms a child needs to stay safe are first taught in the home. Common simple messages abound and are reiterated to young children all the time: "Don't talk to strangers;" "Stay there and don't move"...

Many children are tortured by people who know them outside the family - it is not just strangers who do so. In the majority of cases children are abused by people known to them and who are looking after them. I know the Minister will prioritise this issue, as she is a go-getter and now has her chance to be a super Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. I know she will be.