Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House so quickly when Senators asked to discuss this issue. There is no disputing that Dr. Geoffrey Shannon's recent report has given rise to grave and understandable concerns. I join with other speakers in their comments. There are a number of criticisms of Tusla in the audit. We have all heard about it in the media in the last few days. In particular, some of these criticisms concern the out-of-hours social work service and effective communication between Tusla and An Garda Síochána.

As the overall issues raised in the report were summarised by the Minister, I do not propose to repeat them. In respect of the out-of-hours social work service, a significant enhancement of the service took place, I understand, in November 2015. A national service now exists which facilitates 24-hour Garda contact with a social worker in cases where removal of a child under section 12 is being contemplated, and which provides emergency foster and residential care for a child who is removed from his or her family under this provision. As part of this service, social workers are available on the ground at night, over weekends and bank holidays to assist An Garda Síochána in the busiest areas of Dublin, Cork city, Kildare and Wicklow. I would like to hear more from the Minister on her view of what is actually happening as regards the out-of-hours service. This begs the question about service provision in the remaining 22 counties as well. Statistics show that the period in which most of these calls are made is between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. I have been assured that the volume of calls in these counties indicates that contact with Tusla social workers by telephone is sufficient. Nevertheless I am encouraged that the Minister has confirmed that this matter is specifically under review.

There is also a need to ensure that this is realised at local level. In order to address the matter, I understand that both organisations have recently developed a joint protocol on the use of section 12 of the Child Care Act 1991, on which they are due to sign off shortly. The joint protocol covers the application of section 12 and the process to be adopted during and outside office hours as emergencies arise, in addition to notifications to Tusla. It must be noted also that at the launch of the report on Monday, 29 May, Dr. Shannon expressed his full confidence in Tusla's child protection framework which, I suppose, is some comfort in the context of what is quite a stark and grave report overall.

Some additional concerns have been expressed about the placement of children in Garda stations and hospitals. It is my understanding that social admissions to hospitals take place only in exceptional circumstances and only where such a placement is for the child's own safety. Tusla apparently does not request for the Garda to keep a child over part of the night. That is a Garda decision. While the report is very complimentary about the Garda and how empathetic and understanding and kind gardaí have been to children, I do not think it should fall to them to be involved in the first place.

I would like to summarise the actions taken to address the findings of the report so far. Although I obviously have serious concerns, from what I gather, as outlined earlier, work is already well under way in respect of many issues identified in Dr. Shannon's audit. Tusla will continue to work on rolling out its national child care information system which will significantly improve the information available in respect of vulnerable children. The Garda national child protection unit will carry out an audit at local level of the child protection operations between Tusla and An Garda Síochána. Divisional protective services units are being established in all 28 Garda divisions. A joint protocol is being finalised between Tusla and the Garda on the operation of section 12. What remains outstanding, however, is a full audit of child protection services throughout the State. I commend Senator Boyhan's suggestion of an action plan. I am sure it is something that is in the Minister's mind in any case. There is good reason to have an organised review with a time frame set out, given that there is a report with identifiable issues. I support the Senator's positive and constructive suggestion in that respect. While I am encouraged that the Minister has committed to taking a review in a year's time, we need to keep an eye on this. I do not mean to be patronising in any way. It is something that she will be actively watching over the coming weeks and months. Looking at child protection in its entirety, however, and taking into account recent cases such as the Grace and Mary cases, I believe a thorough overhaul of the current system needs to take place. As such I am very much encouraged that the Minister will be meeting Dr. Shannon within the coming weeks to discuss further the matters raised. He will be an excellent person to have on board to review services throughout the country.

I wish to raise an issue that I have been working on in recent times. It is in respect of a statutory provision to seize mobile phones suspected of containing child sexual exploitation images. Currently, gardaí who have reasonable suspicion about an individual do not have the power to seize his or her mobile phone. The law as it stands does not reflect the gravity of the fact that mobile phones are just as powerful as desktop computers.I hardly ever go near a desktop computer now. I use one of the slightly bigger iPhones. Maybe I am damaging my eyesight over time. We are not up to speed with the fact that most modern mobile phones have the memory capability to store thousands of images. I have thousands of images on my phone. Much of the child pornography is being kept on phones now. This is in addition to the capacity to store texts and visual evidence of grooming, solicitation and sexual exploitation. According to the special rapporteur on children, the author of the most recent audit, mobile phones with sexual exploitation images or evidence of grooming should be treated as a crime scene and I do not believe our law is up to speed with that. In fairness, what one can do online is evolving so quickly that it is difficult for legislators to keep up with it. However, we will need to step up the pace in this area.

I also echo Dr. Shannon's call for new powers to request information from technology companies, such as Facebook and Google, with offices in Ireland. An Garda Síochána should be afforded powers to obtain a production order in respect of data that are either held or accessible by content providers based in Ireland. New legislation dealing with the capabilities of the latest technology must be introduced as a matter of urgency. The protection of vulnerable children should always be our top priority and we should drop other things to ensure those matters are addressed. As it may be a matter that applies to the Minister's Department and to the Department of Justice and Equality, I may also need to speak to the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, about it.

I again thank the Minister for coming to the House so expeditiously to discuss this matter.