Vol. 451 No. 7
61 Mr. Doherty asked the Minister for Health if he will establish a national child care authority in view of the fact that health boards appear to be minimising the number of homeless children they deal with; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7014/95]
Limerick East): Under the Child Care Act, 1991, statutory responsibility for the provision of child care services, including services for homeless children, is vested in the health boards. I have no plans to change these arrangements.
I do not accept that the health boards are trying to minimise the number of homeless children that they have to deal with. Section 5 of the 1991 Act provides, that where it appears that a child is homeless, the health board must inquire into the child's circumstances, and if the board is satisfied that there is no accommodation available to the child which he can reasonably occupy, the board is required to take such steps as are reasonable to make suitable accommodation available. However, this must be read in conjunction with section 3 of the Act which requires the boards to have regard to the principle that it is generally in the best interests of a child to be brought up in his own family. The combined effect of these two sections is that the health boards, through their professional staffs, must make a judgement in each individual case as to how best to deal with children who present as homeless.
