Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome. This is my first time to address her since her elevation. The saying goes,"What a tangled web we weave." I cannot begin to imagine what it was like for her to step off an aeroplane on Monday afternoon and walk into a firestorm, but I must compliment her and she has been consistent ever since. I have heard grand speeches and the shouting and roaring. According to "Prime Time" and various other programmes, Members of this House knew all about the McCabe affair for years and did nothing about it; therefore, let us not grandstand. All I will say about the McCabes is that a tribunal of inquiry will be an extremely expensive affair. I sincerely hope Sergeant Maurice McCabe and his wife and children will be provided with all of the legal brains they need to protect their good name which has been hammered for long enough.

I will not slag off the Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice and Equality or anybody else. If somebody has lied, let him or her live with his or her conscience, but I hope they have not lied, as the mixed stories are certainly very hard to take.

Tusla which comes within the Minister's direct responsibility is a dysfunctional organisation. I know that she has not been in the Department long enough to have a decent look at it. I thank her office for contacting me first thing this morning about an issue I had raised in the House. A family in the midlands approached me to tell me about the gross physical and mental abuse of their child. The child is now 12 years old and being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. The family went to Tusla with this problem, I think five years ago. It stated it would investigate the matter. Another family in the same part of the country went to Tusla with an identical problem and the person whom they met said it was very interesting that Mrs. and Mr. Bloggs who had visited three weeks previously had told the same story. The Tusla staff member said they did not realise another family were involved. They were sitting at home, minding their own business. They are extremely private. There was a knock on the front door and people from the village with whom they had never engaged in their lives were standing there saying they had heard they had the same problem. The mother said she did not understand what they were talking about. The people from the village said they were referring to the abuse of the mother's child. She asked them where they had heard this. They said that that day they had been in Tusla's offices where staff members had told them all about it. Confidentiality is at the core of an organisation such as Tusla. Who, in God's name, released the information? I contacted the family again today having been contacted by the Minister's office. They are prepared to meet the Minister and put before her the file they have which is quite extensive and lists seven individual social workers and two counsellors who had been assigned to the young boy. This is unbelievable on the part of an organisation that is supposed to look after the welfare of children. I know that the McCabes have a problem, but it seems anyone can contact Tusla in the morning to say there is a problem with Mr. and Mrs. Bloggs' child or that Mr. and Mrs. Bloggs are injuring their child in some way and that Tusla will commence an investigation. The family are then under the spotlight, even if they have never laid a hand on their child. The organisation is away with itself and needs to be reeled in.

I have two requests for the Minister. First, I ask her to meet the family to whom I have referred. Second, when the statutory investigation starts, she must start a root and branch reform process. We cannot have contractors working for an organisation such as Tusla who cannot keep information confidential.This organisation needs to suspend all inquiries until such a time as it is established that it is capable of doing the job it was set up to do. Another garda has come forward who had been reported to Tusla because somebody wanted to have a go at him. At the end of the day, we really need to get a hold of Tusla and find out what is going on.

I compliment the Minister, Deputy Zappone, on what she has done since she has gone into office and I wish her well as she goes forward. She will be a Minister to be reckoned with if she finds that there is wrongdoing anywhere within the area of her portfolio and I compliment her on that.

As I said at outset, I am not interested in slagging off the Government. I could not care less. The Government and what has happened will find its own level when the statutory or public inquiry starts but before anybody else in this House gets up and starts shouting and roaring about what this Minister or that Deputy said, let us ask ourselves how many of them knew. I heard last night on television that the allegations against the McCabes were widely known in Leinster House. Why did somebody not stand up in Dáil Éireann and say it?