Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raised the issue of special care on Second Stage. I have read the Bill and can find nothing therein in this regard that can be changed per se. However, I am extremely concerned about special care placements. The Minister kindly responded to my concerns in this regard on Second Stage. I would like to read into the record the following for the benefit of my colleagues. Under the special care order of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011, only children and young people aged from 11 to 17 with serious emotional and behavioural difficulties that put them “at a real and substantive risk to his or her health, safety, development or welfare” and who are unlikely to receive special care or protection “unless the court makes such an order” can access these facilities. An example of this may be a child who is self-harming, suicidal, abusing drugs and-or alcohol, where all other attempts by the Health Service Executive have not stabilised the current, serious situation.

I previously advised, and the Minister confirmed, that there are 16 children on a waiting list. An article in yesterday's edition of The Irish Times by Carl O'Brien states that the waiting list in this regard is 65 days, on average. The case in respect of these children is the subject of a High Court order. The lead-in period in terms of reaching High Court order stage is quite lengthy. I do not know what the longest or shortest waiting time on that list is but for these 16 children it is on average 65 days. These are the children that everything else has failed. These are desperate situations. I cannot understand or accept that we have a waiting list in this area.

We are all aware of the recent Health Information and Quality Authority's report into Rath na nÓg in which serious concerns were raised. The response by the HSE was to close the facility, which made me believe at that time that there was a demand for places. I know, having spoken with social workers, that if there was not a blockage in the system in terms of accessing services, there would be 40 children on the waiting list. Rightly, one has to go to the High Court to obtain an order to ensure safeguards are put in place. As well as placing children on a waiting list, we outsource. The figures in this regard were reported in yesterday's The Irish Times. Could we not develop a home grown solution that would be in the bests interests of the children?

The Minister stated on Second Stage that by 2016, 35 places would be available. As I said, there are currently 16 children on a waiting list. If there is one thing that this agency should ensure it is that there will be no waiting list for these special care placements. By the time these cases get to the High Court they have been through a lengthy process. Since the Second Stage debate I have spoken to many social workers who told me of the number of different hoops through which they have to jump before getting to the High Court stage. It is really serious that children are on waiting lists for, on average, 65 days.

There has been much talk about Ireland's past failings, in respect of which some 30 reports have been published. For me this is not about the past rather it is about the present. That there are 16 children and young people whose health, safety, development or welfare is at substantive risk are on a waiting list for on average 65 days is unacceptable. I accept that the Minister cannot give assurances in the Bill. However, I am extremely concerned. This issue is not going away. It should be the driving factor for the new agency. We need to change this practise. There should not be a waiting list for special care placements. I do not doubt the Minister's integrity and compassion in this regard. However, the more I talk to social workers about these particular children and they explain these cases about which we are talking the more concerned I am. I do not want to read about these children in a child death report. I want us to do something about this issue now. I do not want to be talking in the future about how desperate this situation was. That would make headlines in the papers. The real headline for me is that we cannot provide these places for these children today.