Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 1 Jun 1993

Vol. 431 No. 6

Written Answers. - Child Care Statistics.

Alan Shatter

Ceist:

131 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Health the number of children who have been taken into care by each of the health boards in each of the last ten years; the number of fit persons orders that have been obtained by each of the health boards in each of the last ten years; and the number of children taken into care in each health board area in each of the last ten years as a result of suspected or actual non-accidental injury inflicted by parents or as a result of sexual abuse.

Minister for Health (Mr. Howlin)

I attach a number of tables setting out the information sought by the Deputy in so far as it is available in my Department.

Table 1 sets out the number of children admitted to the care of health boards, either on a voluntary basis or under court orders, during each of the years 1982-85 and 1988-90. No figures were collected in respect of 1986 and 1987 because of a detailed review of the National Children in Care Survey. The 1991 figures will be available shortly and I will arrange to have them forwarded to the Deputy.

Table 2 indicates the number of such children who were admitted on the basis of actual or suspected physical or sexual abuse. The information is available in this format only in respect of 1988-1990. It is not possible to isolate the number of cases where the abuse was inflicted by parents.

Table 3 sets out the number of fit person orders obtained by each health board for the years 1982-1985 and 1988-89. Figures in respect of 1990-1992 are not readily available and I will forward them to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Table 1

Children Admitted to Care, 1982-85, 1988-90

Health Board	1982	1983	1984	1985	1988	1989	1990
Eastern	371	556	448	453	444	371	393
Midland	68	67	48	85	95	66	102
Mid-Western	148	174	165	164	154	128	115
North-Eastern	52	91	63	75	66	110	91
North-Western	58	56	48	40	39	39	56
South-Eastern	94	126	137	132	102	69	123
Southern	122	158	170	166	163	155	137
Western	98	107	74	76	75	60	68
Totals	1,011	1,335	1,153	1,191	1,138	998	1,085

Table 2

Primary reason for children being admitted to care 1988-1990.

Health Board	1988	1989	1990
Physical Abuse	Sexual Abuse	Physical Abuse	Sexual Abuse	Physical Abuse	Sexual Abuse
Eastern	24	16	27	13	24	9
Midland	2	2	6	6	3	3
Mid-Western	3	5	2	1	4	5
North-Eastern	9	3	9	7	3	5
North-Western	2	10	2	6	3	2
South-Eastern	1	9	3	4	4	1
Southern	6	13	8	1	6	4
Western	2	0	1	4	2	5
Totals	49	58	58	42	49	34

Table 3

Number of fit person orders granted to Health Boards 1982-85, 1988-89.

Health Board	1982	1983	1984	1985	1988	1989
Eastern	73	88	89	51	81	34
Midland	13	29	21	20	7	10
Mid-Western	23	10	27	8	9	16
North-Eastern	15	10	11	11	11	19
North-Western	3	7	18	15	10	9
South-Eastern	22	6	19	7	9	26
Southern	10	26	17	28	27	30
Western	15	11	16	18	4	7
Totals	174	187	218	158	158	151