Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I said, I welcome the audit. I reappointed Dr. Shannon as special rapporteur. He has extraordinary expertise in this area, which he brought to the audit. Dr. Shannon has made recommendations and damning findings in regard to the Garda Síochána, Tusla and society as a whole. I take on board Senator Black's comments in terms of the great work being done by the RISE organisation on the alcohol issue, which is critical in all of this.

Senator Devine said that we have failed. I agree, we have failed. Parents, the HSE, An Garda Síochána, Tusla and the Department have failed in respect of our most vulnerable children. As for what we need to do, we need to support preventative work in my Department such as that undertaken by the Department itself and by the RISE Foundation.

Many Senators raised the issue of out-of-hours services. I have indicated and Senators have acknowledged that there has been some change since 2015 and this audit. In regard to whether there should be more change, full services are available in the four towns mentioned and 22 counties are covered by emergency out-of-hours services.In a small number of cases, the service was required outside of these busy areas. In 2016, there were ten cases of social workers being called to rural areas. I am sure that Dr. Shannon is aware of this as well. He is calling for more. I have asked Tusla to review the situation again. I will put that analysis together with Dr. Shannon's perspective on the matter. We will consider international best practice so that vulnerable children do not fall through the cracks.

I have called for more reflection. If additional change is required, I intend to ensure that that happens. It is important to point out that, with all of the expertise that Dr. Shannon brings to the audit, he has indicated his confidence in Tusla in terms of the national child protection framework. Tusla launched its national child protection and welfare strategy last week. The action plan is in development, so there is a great deal of room to incorporate some of our learnings from the issues being raised by the Senators. That is critical.

Regarding repeat removals and placing young people back with their families, it appears from some of the stories that we have been reading about and watching on RTE that there are instances in which doing that is not good for the children. At other times, it might be good. I have asked Tusla to examine the 91 cases covered by Dr. Shannon's audit, drill down and see whether what happened was right and appropriate in those circumstances. In light of my various requests to Tusla and the meetings that I will have with the Tánaiste, Dr. Shannon and others, as well as the meetings that I have already had with Tusla, we will put together an action plan relatively quickly on how to proceed. I am determined and committed to doing that.