Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 February 2022
122. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the status of the research and data project to examine the lives of children in care and adults who were in care as children; the person or body that will carry out the research; if the steering group has been established to date; if so, the details of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5430/22]
View answerBaineann mo cheist leis an taighde atá beartaithe ag Roinn an Aire bunaithe ar an moladh ag eascairt as tuarascáil an bhreitheamh Ryan a foilsíodh in 2019. My question relates to the status of the research and data project that arises from action 65 of the report prepared by Mr. Justice Ryan in 2009. What is the status of that research? Has it been commissioned? Are there terms of reference? When will it start and when will it be completed?
I thank the Deputy for her question on what will be a landmark piece of research and data project. I was delighted to announce the project last week after receiving the support of the Government for its commencement. The project comprises a suite of research and data activities that will strengthen our understanding of the lives of children in care and adults who have been in care. This work will provide us with much-needed insights into their experiences and valuable evidence about their outcomes. The project, which is a key priority of mine, will inform the development of effective and responsive policies in my Department and services, but also across government, that best serve the needs of children and young people in the care of the State. It will encompass a ten-year longitudinal study of children transitioning from care, in line with the recommendations of the Ryan report, but will also include other bespoke studies on children in care to complement improved data systems. The project will be led by my Department, with Tusla as a key partner.
There are five basic elements to the project. First, there is the development and agreement of a project plan informed by meaningful consultation with stakeholders. We are starting that now. Second, there is ongoing development of the capacity of the national child care information system, NCCIS, in Tusla to track dynamically the individual pathways of children through care. Third, there will be a once-off study of a cohort of children who left care ten years ago in order that we can immediately get some understanding of young adults ten years after care. As I mentioned, there is the longitudinal study, starting with a cohort of children who are aged 16 and then engaging with them for the subsequent ten years of their lives, again looking at outcomes.
The project will facilitate further bespoke research studies on children in care and aftercare where more detailed information is needed about their circumstances. This will complement improved system data and also provide children in care with an opportunity to have their voices heard. Examples of this could be an examination of the reasons for some categories of children being over-represented in the care system.
I thank the Minister. I am delighted he is delighted, but the report was published in 2009 and here we are, 13 years later. I really would like a timeframe in respect of the research. Who is carrying it out? I am delighted that we are now going to listen to the voices of children. Those voices were never listened to in the past. There are 6,000 children in care. Every year, 500 children come out of the system at the age of 18. Focus Ireland has described this as a cliff edge, with one third of those who have left care being either homeless or at risk of homelessness. Children who were in care are over-represented in the prison system. The Irish Penal Reform Trust found that in 2019 40% of young people in Oberstown Children Detention Campus had been in care or had significant involvement with Tusla. I could highlight any of the figures relating to this issue, but I am wondering why this research is only starting now. I acknowledge that its commencement was recommended well before the time of the Minister. The Ryan report was devastating. It revealed systemic abuse, sexual and physical, at every level in boys industrial schools and so on. This project was one of its practical recommendations.
Undoubtedly, the research should have been commenced before now. I could give the Deputy a range of bureaucratic reasons why that did not happen. What is happening, however, is that I have recognised this as an outstanding piece of work and I have prioritised it. I note the welcome that Empowering People in Care, EPIC, and similar groups have given to the announcement by the Government, an announcement that is backed up by funding. The project is structured and it is led by Tusla but it has the engagement of other groups as well in terms of the structure. We are serious about this. That is evident from the fact that we are not just doing the longitudinal study that is so essential, we are also doing the initial research looking now at young people ten years out of care and their outcomes. We are not waiting for the ten-year longitudinal study to go through; we will actually get some information now. It is also about better using the information we have through the NCCIS and allowing that to shape policy in the short term while we await the various waves of data from the longitudinal study.
I welcome the progress and, as always, the bona fides of the Minister but I still do not have a handle on when this is going to start, when it will finish and who will spearhead it. How much information will be available publicly? Are there terms of reference and so on? I ask those questions specifically because it is now 2022 and some actions of the Ryan report have still not been implemented. They did not form part of my question but it is important to point out they have not been implemented. I would appreciate if the Minister was in a position to update me on why they have not been implemented and which ones are still to be implemented. There was an implementation body that was very effective. It gave regular updates on the implementation of the Ryan recommendations. As in the case of mental health, having an implementation body in this context is important. I understand it is no longer there but the Minister is getting regular updates on the actions taken. Are those updates public? Can we see on what the Minister is being updated in respect of the work of the Ryan report carried out on the back of the horrific suffering of boys and girls in care?
As I said, the project will be led by my Department. There will be a unit within my Department leading out on this work. Tusla will be a key partner. Our first piece of work is to engage in consultation with the stakeholders on the design of the various elements. The next piece of work will be to undertake the research on the group who are ten years out of care. Work will then begin on the longitudinal study and bring together the cohort at which it will be looking. I will ask officials of my Department to provide written detail on the timelines. Obviously, this will be a lengthy piece of work. It will be in progress for at least ten years because that is what a longitudinal study is. I refer to the Growing Up in Ireland study, which provides two or three really valuable pieces of research each year that influence policy decisions and enable my Department to respond. That is what we will get from this longitudinal study. I will write to the Deputy. I ask her to outline in writing exactly what she is seeking and we will get her a detailed analysis-----
Perhaps the Department can follow up on what has been said today and I will take it up from there.
