Aideen Hayden (Labour)

I support Senator van Turnhout in her call for the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, to come to the House as a matter of urgency to discuss the report of the independent review group that was set up to investigate the deaths of almost 200 children in State care. This report is evidence that we do not treat all of the children in this country equally. However, I do not think it tells the whole story. Harrowing and all as these stories are, any study of the deaths of people who had accessed homeless services or drug abuse services or been in the prison system would show that there has been a far greater number of deaths among those who have experienced State care. We know, for example, that two thirds of all children who leave State care end up homeless. We know the connection between homelessness and prison, drug abuse and early death. I call on the Minister to go further than simply examining the deaths of those children who are clearly part of the system and to engage in a longitudinal study investigating those children who have been in care and who end up homeless, involved in drug abuse or with the prison system.