Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 26 May 1998

Vol. 491 No. 3

Written Answers. - Child Abuse.

Dan Neville

Ceist:

274 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason figures on child sex abuse as outlined in Parliamentary Question No. 426 of 21 April 1998 did not contain full information requested for the Eastern and Southern Health Boards. [11739/98]

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. Fahey)

The figures requested by the Deputy in relation to the Eastern Health Board were not included in the reply to Parliamentary Question No. 426 of 21 April 1998 as they had not been compiled at the time. These figures have since been compiled and are as follows:

Year	1996	1996	1997	1997
Reports	Received	Confirmed	Received	Confirmed
East Sexual	970	371	638	228

The Southern Health Board has informed the Department that it is, at present, reviewing its systems for recording and defining categories of child abuse and is not in a position to supply the information requested by the Deputy. In this respect, I would like to add that in conjunction with the review of the child abuse guidelines which is currently being undertaken by a working group reporting to my Department, I intend to commission a consultancy study to review the collection of child abuse statistics nationally. The aim of this consultancy will be to set out nationally agreed definitions and criteria for the categorising of abuse in order to enhance the accuracy and comparability of these statistics in and between health boards.