Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

About 28 years ago, I visited Ghana in Africa. If I had known then what I know now, I might have behaved differently. I was a young mother trying to keep an eye on my two children. At the time, Africa, and particularly Ghana, was very poor, and every time you left the hotel, children would gather around you, begging for money, sweets or something else. While I was staying at that hotel, I witnessed a number of elderly and middle-aged men coming back to the hotel with children. Of course, back then, there was no Internet like we have now, and I did not know about the things could happen to children. I was a young mother, and I would not have thought anyone could behave in the way some did. Nevertheless, it was clear these men were using those children for sex.

That brings me to a report released last week, because now I know different. I have been involved in fostering more than 120 children over the past 12 years. The report, Protecting Against Predators, is really scary. Will the Acting Leader please invite Dr. Mary Canning, Dr. Marie Keenan and Ms Ruth Breslin to come before the Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth in regard to the report? It is harrowing to think about what is happening to our children, especially in State care.

People have fed into the report and it has come not just from Tusla but from An Garda Síochána, the Children's Rights Alliance, DEIS school communities, foster parents and Tusla itself. Children are being victimised, sexualised and groomed, and predators are waiting outside these residential units. What is worse, it was reported in 2017 that 62 unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Ireland had gone missing from State care, 45 of whom remain unaccounted for. We have to give a voice to these children. They are the most precious children in our State and do not have families to look after them or anyone to give them a voice. Nobody is talking about this report; they are all talking about Ryan Tubridy. I could not give a rat's about Ryan Tubridy, but I do care about this report. Will the Acting Leader please write to the children's committee and urge it to invite these people to appear before it to give a full account of what is happening to children in residential care?