Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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125. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will report on the work of the Ryan report monitoring group since its establishment to date; and if a fourth progress report for the Ryan report implementation plan is being or has been prepared. [37456/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Following the publication of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (the Ryan Report), in May 2009 a detailed Implementation Plan was published. The overall aim of the Plan which contains a total of 99 actions, is to make a difference to children’s lives by addressing past failings and putting measures in place to achieve better outcomes in the delivery of services to children and families.

Implementation of the Plan has been overseen by a High Level Group chaired by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. The Group includes representatives from my Department, the Child and Family Agency (formerly the HSE), HIQA, the Irish Youth Justice Service, the Department of Education and Skills and An Garda Síochána. In May 2011, the Children’s Rights Alliance were invited to join the Group in order to ensure the inclusion of the voices of children and civic society.

The Monitoring Group has presented three progress reports to the Government to date, which have been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The fourth and final monitoring report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Ryan Report is currently being finalised by officials in my Department and it will be published in the near future. While not wishing to pre-empt either the contents of the report, or the views of the Monitoring Group, I wish to reiterate that the Government has committed to the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the Ryan Report.

My Department will continue to monitor the delivery of actions contained in the implementation plan in the context of the ongoing monitoring of the Child and Family Agency’s Corporate Plan and Performance Statement. Work is underway in my Department to prepare a monitoring framework for all significant child care reports which is intended to be put in place following the completion of the formal monitoring process for the Ryan Commission Implementation Plan.