I am grateful for the opportunity to raise the important matter of the establishment of a child abuse register. Nothing illustrates the need for a child abuse register as startling as the case of the Director of Public Prosecutions v. Gerard Tiernan which was tried in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court two weeks ago. Tiernan was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for the most horrific and savage assault imaginable on his infant son Paul. The court heard that Paul Tiernan, aged five months, was admitted to Temple Street Hospital suffering from seizures, bruising and fractured ribs. He has since been taken into care. Paul Tiernan will spend the remainder of his life visually impaired and physically disabled. This tragedy is made infinitely greater by the fact that the accused, Gerard Tiernan, was imprisoned for a similar offence against another infant son in 1990. In that case, the baby suffered two broken legs and several broken ribs.
The obvious question which arises is how an individual convicted for an assault in 1990 could be allowed unsupervised access to another infant. How could the probation service and the health board have proved so ineffective in monitoring a convicted child abuser? The fact is, however, that they were ineffective and this represents a damning indictment of our system of child protection.
A committee established in 1993, following the appalling Kilkenny incest case, was chaired by Catherine McGuinness, senior counsel, who is now a distinguished judge. It was asked to advise Government on how best to protect children from sexual abuse and violence. This committee produced an excellent report which contained almost 90 recommendations. Sadly, to date only seven of them have been implemented, despite the fact that the report has been in existence for almost three years. This brings into question our determination to properly protect our children.
One of the recommendations of the Kilkenny Incest Report Committee which has not yet been implemented was the establishment of a child abuse register to include details of both young children at risk and convicted abusers. Such a register exists in most European countries. It allows the State services to monitor children at risk and actual or potential abusers. If that recommendation had been accepted and a register established, the possibility of Gerard Tiernan having unsupervised and unmonitored access to infants following his conviction would have been greatly reduced.
It must be remembered that the Tiernan case only came to light because it involved a criminal trial. One is filled with apprehension when one considers the other cases of child abuse that are normally held in-camera in the family courts. In the absence of such a register, people such as Mr. Tiernan will continue to have unsupervised access to infants with predictable consequences.
It is unacceptable that it has taken such a horrific case to put the Government on notice of the absolute and immediate necessity of establishing a child abuse register. If the Government refuses to implement this recommendation of the Kilkenny Incest Report Committee, I am prepared to give an undertaking that Fianna Fáil, on its return to office, will ensure that this glaring deficiency in our child protection system is rectified. However, if the Government does not carry out its duty in this regard, and children become the victims of abuse and violence, which could have been avoided by the establishment of a child abuse register, it will have to bear a heavy share of the burden of responsibility for what happens to those children.
Many people have correctly expressed great concern about the protection of the unborn. Surely those who are born are entitled to the fullest protection that can be afforded by the State. Young children such as Paul Tiernan are among the weakest and most vulnerable group in our society. They deserve better from us. I ask the Minister to give the House an assurance that the Government will at least provide the degree of protection which would be afforded by the establishment of a child abuse register.