asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to reports of alleged child battering by parents; and if he will make a statement on the reports which have aroused widespread disquiet.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ill-treatment of Children.
8.
I have seen the recent references and comments in the Press on a report on non-accidental injury to children prepared by a committee comprising members from the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the North Dublin Social Workers. I had already received a copy of this report.
While I do not wish to discount the general significance of the problem, the aspect of the report which caused most comment in the Press and which was probably the greatest cause of public disquiet was the reference in the report to the estimate that as many as 100 children per year may die in Ireland as a result of non-accidental injury by their parents. However, the information available to my Department indicates that the incidence of such deaths is nothing of the order of the above estimate.
The problem of non-accidental injury to children has also been under examination by a committee established in May last at the instigation of my Department. The group have a broadly based membership and I understand that their report will be submitted to my Department very shortly.
The problem of non-accidental injury to children will be considered urgently in my Department in the light of the recommendations in the two reports referred to and I will then make a further statement on the matter.
In fairness to the ISPCC, somebody must have misinterpreted their report. Until a national advisory centre has been established we will not know how big this problem is. At present in this city if a mother who is in mental trouble ill-treats her child she can go to 15 different hospitals on 15 different occasions and say that the child fell from a pram or something. This could not happen if there was a national centre at which such things could be registered. The answer given is very vague. We must have far more stringent measures so that remedial action can be taken, but this cannot be done until we have an advisory centre. Then we will know how many are dying as a result of ill-treatment. We have been told that in Britain 300 children are dying per year from ill-treatment. Therefore, our ratio would be 30, but we will not know until a centre has been established.
I want to assure the Deputy and the House and parents that this is a matter that is being taken very seriously by me and the Department. Whether the number who die from ill-treatment is ten, 20 or 100, the fact is the problem exists and the matter is having our immediate and urgent attention.
What has been done since the report was issued?
One report has been published. The other, that of the Departmental committee, will be on my desk shortly and I will let Deputies know what it is.
What kind of action is contemplated or being taken to offset this practice?
One report has been published and it got a lot of publicity.
There is an evil in society. What is being done to eradicate it?
Like the Deputy, I realise that evil is there and we should all join forces to eradicate it.
That is the Parliamentary Secretary's duty. Tell us what to do and we will help.
There should be closer and more detailed examination by the doctors in order to ensure it is not a mere cut or a bruise but the result of battering.
There are individual cases which we know of. What is the Minister doing about them?
Suppose I said I did not know, would the Deputy have any solution to offer?
I would set up a clinic in highly-populated areas where there would be a concentration of such cases.
They have to be identified as being battered. The first thing is to identify a battered child as distinct from a hurt child, a bruised child.
What procedures are applied if somebody is suspicious that a child has been battered?
I assume the Garda would be notified.
Is that the only procedure available?
It is not the procedure.
Is there procedure in the Department? That is what we are asking.
I should inform the House that in 1972, of a total of 101 children under five years of age who had been certified as dying from accidents and violence, 30 of them died from traffic accidents and 34 from the intake of food causing obstruction and suffocation. If 20 died from battering, the problem is not as big as we see it, but it is a problem and I can assure Deputies the Minister and I are looking after it.
Question No. 9, please.
The Parliamentary Secretary is making a terrible mistake here.
A question, Deputy, please.
He says they die of certain things. The doctors have no protection here.
Question No. 9, please.
One final supplementary—if a doctor, nurse or somebody at a clinic is suspicious of the fact that a child has been battered, have they been instructed to report such cases and to whom do they report; who instructs them?
Can the Deputy not be patient? I have told him that there is a report forthcoming from an interdepartmental committee. It will be on my desk within a week. If the Deputy puts down another question this day week, I will be able to give him their report.