It is a scandal and a tragedy of extraordinary dimensions that children taken into care by the State, because they are perceived as being at risk within the family home, have become the victims of sexual abuse in residential homes paid for by the State. Approximately seven days ago I raised with the Minister for Health the matter of the investigations being conducted into the problems at Madonna House and previous incidents of child sexual abuse affecting children in residential care. In reply the Minister stated his information was that at least 15 children were allegedly abused. Recent newspaper reports stated that the inquiry into Madonna House revealed more than 100 allegations of alleged child sexual abuse. Is that report accurate?
It is a scandal that this has occurred because allegations of sexual abuse of three children taken into the Coolane House group home in 1989, for which the Eastern Health Board also had responsibility were confirmed. It appears that between the years 1989 and 1993 nothing was done to ensure a cessation of the type of occurrences which continued to take place in Madonna House after 1989. The lessons that should have been learned from the revelations in regard to Coolane House, which were not disclosed to the public at that time, should have resulted in the Eastern Health Board and the Department of Health reviewing the position in every residential care centre. It is a scandal that four years after Coolane House was closed children continued to be abused in Madonna House and the State did not lift a finger to stop it. The Government must answer in that regard.
It is also a scandal because as of now no statutory regulations have been put in place under the Child Care Act, 1991 to ensure that children in residential care in other centres are not the victims of sexual abuse. In his reply last week the Minister stated that the regulations under the Child Care Act, 1991, passed by this House in July 1991, will be brought into force some time next year. As they are not complex, it should not take four years to enforce them. The bureaucratic machine appears to grind along so slowly that approximately six years after the incidents in Coolane House there are still no statutory controls or regulations in place in respect of residential centres. It is unacceptable that that position was allowed continue from 1991 until the disclosure of the recent problems in Madonna House. It is an act of gross negligence on the part of the Government that it is prepared to get by until next year with the position as it stands.
I want confirmation from the Minister that the regulations and necessary controls will be put in place in the next two weeks. I want the Minister to assure me that children in other residential centres taken into care by a health board are not the victims of abuse. What steps have been taken to ensure that is not the case? When will the report on the tragedies which occurred in Madonna House be published? This is a tragedy as well as a scandal, it is a tragedy for those young people who were taken into care and then abused.
What actions are being taken by the Government to ensure that those who were abused are getting the necessary counselling? The Irish Times reported yesterday that the Eastern Health Board is having difficulty providing adequate therapy and counselling facilities for the alleged victims, many of whom are now young adults. Will the Minister say what extra resources he will provide for the Eastern Health Board to ensure that it, in turn, provides adequate counselling? The Eastern Health Board is at fault for failing to exercise any proper supervisory function over the past five years in this residential home having learned what had occurred at Coolane House. The Eastern Health Board has a profound obligation, as does the Government, to ensure that the necessary back-up services are provided for this purpose.
The other issue of profound importance is what we are doing for children at present in Madonna House, or who were there until recently, who were the victims of abuse, or who were not the victims of abuse, but who are being shipped out to other centres. What is being done to these children? I am concerned about the many good staff operating in Madonna House who have devoted some 15-20 years of their lives to children, who bear no blame for the incidents that have occurred. Children who have been in care for between four to 13 years have formed relationships with staff working in Madonna House and regard those people, in effect, as substitute parents. Quietly and secretly in recent months, these children have been shipped into other residential centres and have been deprived of all contact with those members of staff in Madonna House who bear no fault for these incidents. These children have already been taken from their own homes, have been abused in care, and are now being abused by the State and being deprived of contact with staff with whom they formed bonds and attachments. That is also wrong, yet no one seems to be confronting that issue. It is equally wrong that those staff in Madonna House, who bear no blame for what has occurred, apparently are being made redundant and given no opportunity to continue their life long work. They should not be made sacrificial lambs for the misdeeds of others that should have been discovered by those in authority long ago.
I am sorry if I have continued somewhat longer than I had intended. I feel strongly about this issue. Yet, to date all we have been able to elicit from the Government is a written response to a parliamentary question that was not sufficiently high on the Order Paper to allow an oral reply. I hope the assurances I seek this evening will be given. I hope the Government will stop prevaricating, engaging in public relations exercises, and ensure not only that necessary regulations are made but that proper supervisory controls are put in place and the children, who have been the victims of abuse, and their parents are provided with whatever back-up help they may need.
