Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the value and importance of human connection. Kindness and love are the real currency of life. The importance of one human being in another person's life is more important when that person is a child. These human connections are formed in the earliest years of our lives. This human connection becomes more important when the child feels safe and confides in someone that things are not right at home or he or she may be living in danger. To be that one good adult that a child can turn to in the darkest of moments is truly the greatest gift.

This morning, I want to thank Erin's Isle Gaelic Football Club in Finglas, County Dublin. In all my years of fostering and of all the children who have come through my door, I have never witnessed the exemplary acts of human kindness that the club's coaches and child protection officers had for one child who ended up in difficulty. It was these fine young men who knew exactly what to do when that child came to them. It was the same young people who rang the child every single day, collected him for training, visited him and tried to keep his spirits up while Tusla tried to find a placement for him. Imagine at a young age having one's life and familiar surroundings turned upside down, ending up in a Garda station seeking protection and, subsequently, being brought into a stranger's house at 1.30 in the morning. I have never seen such camaraderie for a child. Members of the Erin's Isle club literally threw their arms around this child and made him feel important and loved. I cannot go into more detail but the club went above and beyond its duty. I thank the young coaches and child protection officers from Erin's Isle in Finglas for everything they are doing for the children and teenagers in their club.

Every day, children in this country find themselves seeking refuge. There are not enough foster parents to deal with the number of children seeking refuge, even less so with the pandemic. Once again, I call on people from any family type who could be a good role model, even if they are single or, like me, busy, and who have a spare room, patience and an open heart to open their home to a young person.