Vol. 501 No. 3
94 Mr. Dukes asked the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the preparation of the new child abuse guidelines; when the guidelines will be published and circulated to health board personnel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5951/99]
238 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the preparation of the new child abuse guidelines; when the guidelines will be published and circulated to health board personnel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6039/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 94 and 238 together.
In February of last year I established a working group to review the child abuse guidelines issued by the then Department of Health in 1987 and the guidelines concerning the notificaiton of suspected cases of child abuse between health boards and the Garda issued in 1995. The group's terms of reference take into account the Government's commitment to introduce legislation on mandatory reporting. The group has met on 13 occasions to date.
I understand that a complete set of draft guidelines were examined by the group at its most recent meeting on 23 February. I further understand that two more meetings of the group will be required to finalise the drafting of the new national guidelines. I am very satisfied with the substantial progress which the group has been able to achieve to date and I can assure the House that after I receive the revised national guidelines from the group, I will proceed as expeditiously as possible to have them published and circulated.
