Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 29 Jan 1998

Vol. 486 No. 2

Written Answers. - Child Abuse.

Alan Shatter

Question:

158 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of reports of alleged child abuse or neglect received by each health board in the years 1995 and 1996; the number of reports confirmed in each of these years; and if these reports as received and confirmed can be broken down to indicate whether they relate to physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse or neglect. [2351/98]

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. Fahey)

The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table. I will forward a breakdown of the 1996 Eastern Health Board figures for confirmed cases of abuse and the 1996 Southern Health Board figures to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Year Reports	1995 Received	1995 Confirmed	1996 Received	1996 Confirmed
East
Physical	556	174	581	–
Sexual	863	264	970	–
Emotional	63	34	137	–
Neglect	652	290	698	–
Total	2,134	762	2,386	833
Midland
Physical	168	68	286	71
Sexual	249	68	193	31
Emotional	44	16	179	69
Neglect	452	147	843	335
Total	193	299	1,501	506
Mid-West
Physical	151	59	193	57
Sexual	208	64	189	51
Emotional	154	37	257	102
Neglect	313	77	265	65
Total	826	237	904	275
North-East
Physical	95	33	194	62
Sexual	201	71	241	57
Emotional	53	17	124	27
Neglect	289	101	398	101
Total	638	222	957	247
North-West
Physical	40	26	77	12
Sexual	100	39	106	20
Emotional	11	2	31	13
Neglect	28	14	59	4
Total	179	81	273	49
South-East
Physical	141	80	252	52
Sexual	339	156	319	68
Emotional	40	21	95	25
Neglect	222	146	324	95
Total	742	403	990	240
Southern
Physical	124	74	–	–
Sexual	289	73	–	–
Emotional	–	–	–	–
Neglect	29	–	–	–
Total	442	147
Western
Physical	134	23	129	42
Sexual	192	30	165	26
Emotional	19	8	28	1
Neglect	196	64	399	51
Total	541	125	721	120