Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise. Given that foster parents may now be enabled to adopt the children they originally fostered, will there be any change in the assessment of foster parents? How will the due weight be given to the views of the child? What type of new training will be available to judges or experts in order to assess these views, given the age of the child, or the influences or pressures being brought to bear on a child? For example, I am fearful that a child announcing on social media that he or she was going to be adopted would leave him or her open to bullying. How will a judge give due regard to the voice of the child? Is the Minister satisfied that we can now trust the State, given past failures? Are sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that the agencies will act with adequate speed? How will these new provisions prevent future deaths of children in care? I refer, for example, to the case of Daniel McAnaspie. The Children First guidelines will be put on a statutory footing and it is now an offence to withhold information. Does the Minister regard this as adequate provision in light of the children who have died in care? I ask her to address these questions in her concluding response because I would like to hear how they are to be protected.