I propose to take Questions 307 and 308 together.
The number of Fit Person Orders granted to the Eastern Health Board in recent years is as follows:— 1985, 51; 1986, 112; 1987, 96; 1988, 81.
Details in respect of 1989 are not yet available.
During the period in question, one case was challenged by the parents to the Supreme Court and, as a result, three children were returned home. Apart from this case, there were no successful challenges against Fit Person Orders granted to the Board.
Information on the number of applications for Orders made by the Board and a breakdown between sexual and other forms of abuse is not available and could not be obtained without a detailed search through hundreds of files maintained by social workers in the ten community care areas of the board. In view of the severe pressure of work on social workers in these areas, this could not be justified as it would serve only to divert them from more urgent work, in particular the ongoing investigation and management of child abuse cases.
In dealing with alleged cases of child abuse, whether physical, sexual or otherwise, the Eastern Health Board, in common with the other health boards, acts in accordance with the standard guidelines issued by my Department on the investigation and management of child abuse. I am arranging to have a copy of the guidelines sent to the Deputy. In addition, the board has available to it professional advice of medical and social work personnel and of its legal advisers.
In the light of a judgment of the Supreme Court in July, 1989 in a case involving the Midland Health Board The State (D) v Groarke and Ors, all of the health boards have been advised to review their procedures for dealing with cases of alleged child abuse. I understand that the Eastern Health Board is in consultation with its legal advisers and that there are likely to be some changes in the manner in which evidence is prepared and presented in future court proceedings.
309.