Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Contrary to the expectations, hopes and aspirations when the Minister was transferred from the Department of Health to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the waiting lists and the number of people on trolleys have increased. I do not think the Minister can be held responsible for the inadequacies in the Department of Health but I wish him well in his new Department. I wish him every success in that regard.

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, I unanimously recommend Dr. Niall Muldoon for appointment by the President as Ombudsman for Children. This has been a careful and well-scrutinised appointment. His appointment will give rise to a vacancy in the Office of the Ombudsman for Children and I ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the appointment of his replacement will involve the same level of scrutiny. It is an important appointment.

It is a novel idea that children were involved in the conducting of these interviews. We could all have enjoyed having scrutiny of our teachers in the same way when we attended national school. We could have had an opportunity to assess their suitability for teaching children. My recollection of the period is that it was a hard time for children. I have always praised the Sisters of Mercy, my first teachers, who were wonderful. I adored Sister Anthony, who was my first teacher. I will never forget her, God be good to her. She never raised her hand in anger or slapped in anger but she was from Tralee, County Kerry-----