Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Fianna Fáil is concerned about the shortcomings in the long-awaited and long-delayed Children First Bill. In our view, the legislation as currently drafted will not deliver the protection needed by vulnerable children. The Bill does not set out the necessary sanctions for people who fail to report child protection concerns. This amounts to a major watering-down of the legislation we were promised. My colleague, Deputy Troy, proposed amendments on Report Stage in the Dáil to strengthen this legislation. These amendments would have made the non-reporting of child abuse concerns a punishable offence and would have imposed sanctions on a provider who continued to provide services to children in the absence of a child safety certificate, having been on the register of non-compliance for 30 days. The Minister, Deputy Reilly, has refused point blank to accept these constructive Fianna Fáil amendments, which would have given this legislation some teeth. I intend to propose my own amendments when this Bill comes before the House again in the autumn. We will probably take Committee Stage on our first sitting day back in September. I hope the Minister will reflect on these issues over the summer.

The Bill before the House aims to make better provision for the care and protection of children, to raise awareness of child abuse and neglect, to provide for the reporting and management of child protection concerns and to improve child protection arrangements in organisations that provide services to children. I wonder whether much of this has been watered down since we amended the Constitution in November 2012. It is difficult to believe this is the best legislation the Minister, Deputy Reilly, could come up with, three years on from when this issue was described as a top priority. Three years is a long time to deal with a top priority. I do not think the Minister was in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs three years ago. His predecessor made this a priority. The Minister is continuing the work he was doing in the Department of Health. When this law was first envisaged, it was to be designed as a line in the sand that would end the culture of turning a blind eye to child abuse and other child protection issues. We welcome the fact that professionals working with children will be legally obliged to report concerns under this legislation. However, the failure to provide for penalties if they do not report such concerns weakens the strength of the law we are introducing. It is astonishing that the Minister has said he does not want to overburden the Department and the Child and Family Agency with policing penalties. We should not be limited by questions of administration when we are responding to child protection concerns.

The heads of the Bill that were published two years ago included robust sanctions, including up to five years in prison, for failures to comply with the Children First legislation. After two years of protracted delays, we appear to have ended up with a watered-down version of the Bill. There will be no sanctions for mandated persons who do not report child protection concerns or for organisations that fail to have child safety statements in place. To date, the Minister has failed to appropriately explain this serious U-turn. According to the heads of the Bill published by the Government two years ago:

Head 20 provides for offences under the Bill and for the liabilities attaching. A person is guilty of an offence if he or she is required to report concerns or allegations of abuse under the proposed Bill to the HSE and fails to do so ... A person guilty of an offence will be liable, on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both, or on conviction on indictment, to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both.

The making of a report to the Child and Family Agency in respect of children in certain circumstances requires certain persons to assist the agency in carrying out risk assessments in relation to potential harm to children and preparing child safeguarding statements. This legislation establishes a Children First interdepartmental implementation group and sets out guidelines for the provision and preparation of sectoral implementation plans by Government Departments. The Bill sets out the obligations of two distinct groups of people: mandated persons and service providers.

I do not doubt that the motivation of the Minister and that of his colleagues and his senior officials, whom I welcome to the House today, is to introduce the best possible legislation for the protection of children. I know they want to ensure that happens. It is not before time that this issue is being brought to the forefront of Irish life. For a predominantly Christian country of our size, we have an appalling record on the protection of children, not only in institutions but also in the home. Far too many cases have been highlighted involving extraordinary difficulties experienced by children, including some who were raised in the most appalling conditions. It is impossible to appreciate the effects this experience will have on the children in question and their futures. The home is the one place in which a person should expect to be guaranteed protection, but this has not been true in too many cases that have come before the courts in recent years, some of which have resulted in the imprisonment of the people involved for their conduct. These facts are sometimes overlooked when abuse in institutions and schools is being discussed.

Children are vulnerable. In school, for example, they must rely on and have confidence in teachers. My experience of school was good and I was taught by the Christian Brothers in Roscommon. However, the order has acquired a poor reputation in recent years, although it provided an education when no one else in the State provided it. It should also be recognised that the Sisters of Mercy and other teaching orders provided an education when the State was not in a position to provide educational facilities. Both the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy were exemplary in that regard, although some members of both orders failed dismally, as we have learned in certain institutions and schools. Having said that, at least we have recognised what took place.

I hope the Bill will go a long way towards ensuring no child is ever abused again. Abuse is completely unacceptable and my party will co-operate fully with the Minister in doing everything possible to strengthen the legislation.