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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 12 Nov 1997

Vol. 482 No. 6

Written Answers. - Kilkenny Incest Investigation.

Dan Neville

Question:

307 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Health and Children the current status of the recommendations contained in chapter 11 of the Kilkenny incest investigation of May 1993 in relation to those recommendations which are fully implemented, partially implemented, to be implemented and not to be implemented. [19176/97]

Very considerable progress has been made in the implementation of the substantive recommendations of the Kilkenny incest investigation that relate to the health services. The central recommendation, i.e. that the Child Care Act, 1991 be implemented in full, has been achieved. Since 1993, in the region of £40 million on an annualised basis has been invested in developing an infrastructure to support the Act. Among the other main recommendations of the report relating to the health services and implemented to date are: the introduction of a new procedure for the notification of suspected cases of child abuse between health boards and gardaí; revised internal health board procedures for the identification, investigation and management of child abuse; revised Medical Council guidelines on medical confidentiality in so far as it relates to child abuse; development of treatment services for children affected by abuse; expansion of community-based preventative and family support services, such as resource centres, homemakers, and community mothers schemes.

Of the remaining substantive recommendations of the report that come within my Department's area of responsibility, the most important relate to mandatory reporting, revised child abuse guidelines, and standardised child abuse registers.

As I explained to the House on 9 October last, my focus in the area of the reporting of child abuse will be to improve the reporting of abuse, rather than a narrow focus on legislative change. I therefore envisage that agreed protocols on reporting of child abuse will be put in place by professionals, who of course already have a duty of care to their clients. I also intend to continue to progress the initiatives to strengthen arrangements for reporting child abuse and to generally promote and protect the rights of children that were announced following the consultation process on mandatory reporting held in 1996.

A working group will be established to review the child abuse guidelines issued by the Department of Health in 1987 in the context of the agreed protocols for professionals already mentioned.

In relation to the child abuse registers, health boards currently maintain lists of suspected and confirmed cases of child abuse in accordance with the 1987 child abuse guidelines. Their purpose is to monitor and follow-up on reported cases of children at risk and to provide data for research and planning. When families with children who are considered to be at risk change residence and move to another health board area, the information on the list is passed on to the relevant health board.

The report of the Kilkenny incest investigation acknolwedged current practice in this regard and recommended the standardisation of child abuse registers and the introduction of certain safeguards into the system. An examination of the current system of child abuse registers will be undertaken in the light of issues that arise in the review of the child abuse guidelines.

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