I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 198 together.
I am aware of the allegations referred to by the Deputy and my Department has received a preliminary report from the Eastern Health Board in the matter. However, as the Garda have not yet completed their inquiries into this case, the Deputy will appreciate that it would be inappropriate for me to make further comment at this stage.
On the broader issues raised by the Deputy, I should explain that although there is no single set of comprehensive guidelines that deal, per se, with the supervision of children's homes my Department has from time to time issued guidance on various aspects of the subject, e.g. staff recruitment; financing; review of placements in the homes and the supervision of admissions to, and discharges from, the homes. Guidelines have also been issued to health boards and children's homes on procedures for the identification, investigation and management of non-accidental injury to children, including injury resulting from sexual abuse.
It is standard practice for each child placed by a health board in a children's home to have a named social worker who liaises on an on-going basis with the home, the child and his family. Community care social work teams review progress and future plans for children placed by them in homes on a regular basis. These reviews often incorporate full case conferences involving health board staff working with the child and the family; child care workers in the home, the resident manager and, where appropriate, the parents. This close and regular contact between board personnel and individual children provides health boards with a very effective method of monitoring and supervising children in children's homes. In addition, since January 1984 all these homes have been placed on direct annual budgets from the local health board. Heretofore, they were funded on a capitation basis per child. The new financing arrangements, of necessity have meant much closer working relationships than heretofore between the administration of the homes and that of the boards, giving boards a greater input into the running and administration of the homes, their staffing and their capital development programmes.
Because the sexual abuse of children is a criminal offence, the investigation of such allegations is primarily a matter for the Garda. However, as I have already mentioned, health boards have procedures for the identification, investigation and management of such cases. Unlike the Garda investigations, the primary objective of the health board procedure is not the prosecution of the offender but the early determination of the course of action to be taken to protect and provide for the future wellbeing of the child concerned. Where such investigations may involve a child in a children's home, I am satisfied that health boards have sufficient statutory powers to arrange to have the child removed.
Finally, I would like to say that I am not completely satisfied with the adequacy of the present statutory basis for regulating children's homes. As the Deputy is aware under section 15 of the Children (Care and Protection) Bill, currently before this House, I have provided for a new registration system and for the making of regulations governing the conduct and operation of children's homes. This will provide an ideal opportunity to update and consolidate regulations and guidelines for children's homes.
