Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Senator Ruane on her amendment. She raises a very relevant point and I hope the Minister will take it on board, maybe on Report Stage. The Minister or Department might give some thought to a mechanism by which the Department could intervene where a family is perhaps not best placed to make an appeal on behalf of their child. As Senator Ruane rightly points out, there are situations where parents, for whatever reason, may not be in a position to put the best foot forward in respect of an appeal and one would not like to think that in such cases, those people would be forgotten about. I look forward to the Minister's comments on the Senator's amendment.