Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for missing my slot earlier and thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for fitting me into my colleague's place.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, who attended for my Commencement matter earlier. She used a significant amount of her time to discuss the Department of Education's position on the "RTÉ Investigates" programme that many of us will have seen last night. The programme has left many families with an awful lot of questions despite the statements by both the Department of Education and the Department of Health. I ask the relevant Ministers to engage with all the families concerned because they wonder whether they can trust people when engaging and collaborating with the schools their children attend. We must ensure that families have a sense that they can speak openly, rather than believing everything they say could be potentially used against them in a court of law.

In her response today, the Minister of State indicated that in cases involving litigants, it is reasonable to expect everything that may have gone on within a school to be looked at to see if an individual child's needs were met. While it is right to consider whether a child's needs were met, we must do that not from the point of view of how we protect ourselves and defend our institutions and Departments but how we give the child what he or she needs. We are here to serve the public and children and that must be front and centre, not how we defend ourselves in cases. I am not saying that is what the Ministers are doing but that, unfortunately, there is now a public perception that there is a lack of trust. It is not just a case that justice is done but that it is seen to be done in order that we regain the respect and confidence of families and young people with special needs.