Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On section 5, although I appreciate that the amendments I tabled were ruled out of order, they actually get to the very heart of the issues and they also support what Senator Mooney is saying. I wished for the word "may" to be changed to "shall". The whole purpose behind the Bill - the heart of the Bill - is to ensure that the safety net is there every day for children who are aging out by turning 18. The safety net should not be at the discretion of anybody else. It should not be that it may be there but rather that it shall be there. There are too many caveats in the Bill and too much discretion on the agency side.

The amendments being ruled out of order just proves the point. The ruling was because of a potential charge on the Exchequer. The Minster is telling me it will be there - well then there will be no charge on the Exchequer. This what the safety net is about, which is the purpose of the Bill. We do need to ensure that when children are blowing out those candles on their 18th birthday, they are absolutely assured. We talked about this on Second Stage in the Seanad.

Yes, the large cohort is absolutely assured at present and this Bill will not make a difference to them. The system is working for those children who are in foster care. I am talking about the children who are not in safe accommodation, who have fallen out of the system and who have not been appropriately placed. We will continue to fail those children and that is why I tried to put down two simple amendments to strengthen this aspect of the Bill.