Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I again welcome the Minister. It is a case of déjà vu. Here we go again. So many things seem to be rotten in our State and we uncover layer after layer. What do we do with it? Section 12 was exercised about 680 times a year. The report was commissioned by the Garda following the removal of two children - quite a racist incident at the time. Internationally the media was over it because of the Maria case in Greece, and the Garda seemed to jump on that far too quickly.

We are dealing with the section 12 report by Dr. Geoffrey Shannon. He found chronic systematic failures in child protection structures along with superficial and inadequate co-operation between the Garda and Tusla. That speaks for itself and is very disheartening. It is depressing for Senator Boyhan and me to talk almost every week about failures such as the horrors Dr. Shannon has uncovered and the horrors that have been uncovered previously, including the cases of Grace and Mary.

Do we ever get it right? I think we do, but this sort of stuff would make one wonder how right we get it and what is swept under the carpet and ignored as well as how wrong we get it. Among the most shocking findings is the repeated removal of children under the provisions of section 12 and the repeated placing of them back where they came to harm physically, sexually and emotionally.

Overall Dr. Shannon was very positive about the attitude and commitment of gardaí and the detailing of the cases where they walked into unbelievable circumstances where small children and young people were subjected to so much daily horror, never allowed to be nurtured, never loved and never hugged. It is extremely upsetting for the entire community. We have that social sense of belonging and a sense that our children are precious and should enjoy their childhood. Some of them from the moment they are born or even prior to being born have never experienced happiness or laughter. That is an awful indictment of what the State allows to go on.

I find this very emotional. Looking after our children was the most glorious, happiest, greatest work I have done as a mother in my life. I hope I did it reasonably well. I feel great sadness about how we get it wrong repeatedly for this cohort of damaged children. They continue to be damaged.

There are 19 records under PULSE where section 12 was exercised where no details could be found for the child. What happened to the child? The child disappeared. Child protection training is totally inadequate for gardaí. There is little evidence of training for gardaí and they seem to do on-the-job training rather than formal training, which must change.

Dr. Shannon pointed to the lack of co-operation and communication between agencies and the lack of out-of-hours social work services. I know we have talked about the hubs of Dublin and other urban areas where there is a nod to out-of-hours services. This morning, representatives of the Irish Foster Care Association and EPIC, which represents the voice for children from residential or foster home placements, appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs. They have repeatedly said that, even where an out-of-hours service is supposed to exist, it is inadequate. Outside of the hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., foster carers have no access to social workers, which is an indictment because problems occur. Just as with our mental health services, problems happen after 5 o'clock and at the weekend. They are crying out because they do not know where to go. In the end, friends help them and, at times, gardaí.

The use of private fostering services as a de facto official out-of-hours child protection service is a concern. The reliance on private agencies is considerable. Tusla commenced an out-of-hours emergency social work services which co-operated with An Garda Síochána in 2015, but there is no comprehensive social work service that is directly accessible to children or families at risk outside of hours. Several difficulties arise as a result. In several cases a child has been refused placement or one could not be arranged. In those cases the child ended up siting in the most unsuitable place imaginable, incarcerated as they would see it in a Garda station. On the issue of child care settings, one child had to be placed 112 km away, giving the gardaí round trips of almost 250 km.

What can we do? We must digest the failures again and again and then come up with resolutions. That is our job. However, we have failed. Tusla is the head of a broken and dysfunctional child protection system. Children are being put at risk and left in situations of risk every day. Yet again the most vulnerable are being failed. Tusla's honeymoon is over. We need Tusla to react and be proactive in protecting our children and doing the job it should be doing. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs has invited representatives of Tusla to appear before it. I believe the Minister will also be invited at that stage.

We need to establish a commission, independently chaired by an appropriate expert. If we can do it with the commission investigating the future of the Garda and with commissions on taxation, why can we not do it for our children? We need a wide-ranging brief that covers every aspect of child protection structures, including those relating to accountability, leadership, management capacity, policies and, most important, the culture of Tusla's child protection structures. It should make recommendations within 12 months of its establishment.I will work alongside Senator Boyhan and others within the three-month timeframe to bring this back to the Seanad.

I want to conclude by extending my grateful thanks to Dr. Geoffrey Shannon. Our children need and depend on people like him. Children deserve that his 17 recommendations are implemented as soon as possible without further deliberate procrastination.