Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Minister of State that I am not shooting the messenger. However, I believe the Minister has made the wrong decision on this. There is nothing as powerful as transparency. Of course appropriate protocols would have to be put in place to which people who participated in such visits would have to adhere, and of course there are child protection criteria. Any Oireachtas Member with a keen interest in this issue would take significant cognisance of child protection and whatever vetting is necessary. I would not envisage a scenario where an Oireachtas Member would show up at a centre and show his or her identification at 2 a.m. That would be totally inappropriate. It would also be inappropriate for a Member of the Oireachtas to turn up with a journalist. The Member would probably be accompanied by another Member of the Oireachtas.

There is a significant issue of transparency involved here. Many people and NGOs do not believe these centres are run to the highest possible standard. Simple things can be done to make life a great deal easier. Reputable journalists such as Carl O'Brien have written extensively about this issue. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend it does not exist.

I am disappointed with the reply, but I will continue to advocate, along with my colleagues on the working group. We will meet to discuss this reply and an appropriate response will be made in due course.