Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 29: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the planned child welfare agency will be accompanied by the establishment of an all-Ireland protocol for the exchange of information in relation to the investigation and prosecution of cases of abuse; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the absence of such a protocol to date has impeded the exchange of information between the Health Service Executive, the Director of Public Prosecutions, An Garda Síochána and other organisations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19904/11]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The work of the North South Steering Group on Child Protection, which is jointly chaired by my Department and Northern Ireland's Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, includes a particular focus on the development of an inter-jurisdictional protocol for the transfer of child care cases between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. A draft protocol has been developed by a sub-group established for this purpose and is due for approval shortly. The protocol will provide for the sharing of information between the relevant statutory authorities in relation to children who move between jurisdictions and who are in care, are known to the authorities, or in respect of whom there is a level of concern.

A common set of operating procedures to support this protocol, including awareness-raising and training requirements, has been developed by the sub-group for use by staff in the respective jurisdictions. The protocol will apply in the case of:-

· Children whose names are on the child protection register in the North or the child protection notification system in the South and who move between the jurisdictions;

· Children who are subject of legal orders in one jurisdiction and who move to reside in another;

· Children for whom there are significant welfare concerns or who are assessed as particularly vulnerable and who move between jurisdictions.

I welcome the introduction of the protocol which will build on existing levels of ongoing co-operation between respective authorities North and South.