Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raise the same issue as Senator Ardagh. I call on the Leader to organise for the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zaponne, to come to the House. I want to impress the importance of this today because of the report on child protection by Dr. Geoffrey Shannon, which was commissioned by An Garda Síochána and published yesterday. It is a damning report. It highlights really serious issues and grave concerns about failings to protect Irish children. It addresses a number of matters. In summary this report notes a lack of adequate out-of-hours social work services; a lack of access to case files to enable effective decisions for child safety and child protection; a lack of reliable data on the PULSE system in relation to section 4 removals; which is the statutory process of removing a child for its safety and welfare; a lack of training, resources and support for gardaí in exercising their functions and duties in relation to section 12 removals; a lack of clarity around the responsibilities of Tusla - and we do not need to talk more about that, we have talked about it so much here in the past few weeks - and the role and functions of An Garda Síochána and other State agencies. There is a shortfall here and a misunderstanding about the roles, functions and statutory responsibilities of all these organisations supposedly involved in the welfare and protection of our children. The use of Garda stations as a place of safety for a child, which is against international best practice, has been highlighted in this report by Dr. Shannon. There are concerns about the use of some private fostering services. These are really serious issues. In summary, Dr. Shannon makes 17 recommendations in his report. Every time there is a controversy in this country, the Government of the day commissions a report, recommendations are made and the report sits on a top shelf gathering dust. Shame on us if we do nothing here today.Dr. Shannon has clearly set out strong, workable and practical solutions that need to be addressed in 17 recommendations. I call on the Government, An Garda Síochána and Tusla to commit to implementing all the recommendations in his report. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to come to the House to debate the issues with a view to setting out a comprehensive plan to address the recommendations within two weeks? Hopefully, I will have the support of all Senators in seeking a full report on how the Department will roll out the plans that have been set out. I would also like a full plan outlining a detailed implementation strategy to address all the recommendations, which should be presented to the House within three months. Ultimately, recommendations are meaningless unless action is taken. We have an opportunity today to start this process and to have the Minister in the House to set out how she will address our concerns.