Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 11 Feb 2015

Vol. 867 No. 2

Ombudsman for Children Appointment: Motion

I move:

That Dáil Éireann recommends Dr. Niall Muldoon for appointment by the President to be Ombudsman for Children.

Members of the House are aware that the position of Ombudsman for Children became vacant after the resignation of Ms Emily Logan in September 2014 following her appointment as chief commissioner of the newly established Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Dr. Muldoon was selected following a comprehensive independent recruitment and selection process which was conducted at my request by the Public Appointments Service. The Government, at its meeting of 3 February 2015, approved the nomination of Dr. Niall Muldoon for appointment by the President as Ombudsman for Children in accordance with the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002.

The relevant legislative provisions with regard to appointment to the Office of Ombudsman for Children are as described in section 4 of the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002, which provides in section 4(2), "The appointment of a person to be the Ombudsman for Children shall be made by the President upon resolution passed by Dáil Éireann and by Seanad Éireann recommending the appointment of the person." This is the reason the motion is before the House today.

Section 4(4) of the Act states that a person appointed to be the Ombudsman for Children shall hold the Office of Ombudsman for Children for a term of six years and may be re-appointed once only to that office for a second term. The first Ombudsman for Children, Ms Emily Logan, was appointed on 18 December 2003 for a six-year term of office and was reappointed with effect from 18 December 2009 for a further six-year term. There was unanimous support in both Houses for these appointments.

I acknowledge Ms Logan, and record my appreciation for the work she has done as the first Ombudsman for Children, and her achievements over ten years in building the office and working tirelessly for the rights and welfare of children. I wish her every success in her new career.

The Ombudsman for Children's office was established under the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002 to promote and safeguard the rights and welfare of children. The Ombudsman for Children is independent of the Government and is accountable to the Oireachtas. The office is in place to provide an additional protection for children and, in this context, it is crucial that the Ombudsman for Children has the ability to advocate independently for children. The key functions of the role are to promote and safeguard the rights and welfare of children, to examine and investigate complaints about services provided to children, to provide advice regarding children's rights and to conduct research on relevant issues.

The remit of the Ombudsman for Children has been significantly expanded and largely aligned with the remit of the Ombudsman with effect from May 2013 as a result of the changes enacted in the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act 2012. The responsibility for the Ombudsman for Children's office transferred to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs from the Minister for Health with effect from 3 June 2011. The role of the Minister is limited primarily to governance matters, particularly staffing and finance, given the Ombudsman for Children's statutory independence.

The process which resulted in Dr. Muldoon's selection began in August 2014 with meetings between officials in my Department and colleagues in the Public Appointments Service. In September 2014, I announced that the Public Appointments Service would engage in an independent process to find a suitable replacement to fill this important role. The PAS is recognised as a centre of excellence for public service recruitment and selection across a range of posts from entry level to professional, technical and senior executive positions. The recruitment process was conducted in accordance with the codes of practice of the Commission for Public Service Appointments, and the PAS ensured that the process adhered to the principles of fairness, quality and recruitment on merit.

The PAS advertised the position on the 31 October 2014 on its website publicjobs.ie. The job was promoted through international channels in order to give the widest scope for potential applicants in comparable jurisdictions. Applications for the post were received from a wide range of candidates, both inside and outside the State, with a diverse range of backgrounds. I was pleased and encouraged at the interest in this important role. Ninety-seven eligible applicants were considered by a selection board for shortlisting. Twelve candidates were shortlisted for preliminary interview on 16 and 17 December. Five of these candidates were then selected for a final interview and assessment, which took place on 28 January 2015. Dr. Niall Muldoon was the successful candidate to emerge from this rigorous process.

A unique element of this recruitment process was the involvement of children at all stages. There were two consultation workshops with children and young people on 20 and 21 October 2014 to provide input into the final personal specification and the advertisement for the post. I had the pleasure of attending both of these consultations, the first with a younger group aged eight to 12 years and the second with an older group aged 13 to 17 years. At these consultations, a panel of children was selected to become involved in a roleplay assessment as part of the final selection process. The final assessment included a roleplay session for each candidate with 11 children based on topics developed by the children themselves. The final interview included a presentation. Two children were involved with the interview board in assessing the presentation, but the children were not involved in assessing the other competencies that were examined by the adult members of the final interview board. It is safe to say that the voice of children was heard loudly during this process.

Dr. Muldoon is currently director of investigations at the Ombudsman for Children's office. He has been in this role for two and a half years and oversees the handling of almost 1,600 complaints per year made by, or on behalf of, children and young people about public bodies such as the HSE, schools and voluntary hospitals. He ensures that a culture of independence, impartiality and, most importantly, child-centredness underpins the work at all times. Prior to joining the Ombudsman for Children's office, Dr. Muldoon spent five years as national clinical director of CARI, Children at Risk in Ireland, a children's charity, based in Dublin, Limerick and Cork, providing therapy and support to children and families affected by sexual abuse. He is a registered clinical and counselling psychologist who has worked in the area of child protection for almost 20 years. He spent ten years working in the Granada Institute providing therapy, risk assessments and support to adults who had sexually offended against children and those who had been abused as children. He was regularly called upon to provide expert testimony in the courts. He also has extensive experience of lecturing up to doctoral level in both TCD and UCD.

Clearly, his experience shows that he has the range of professional and academic experience that makes him suitable for the position. The rigorous assessment and selection process conducted by the PAS concluded that he was the best candidate for the job. I would like to take this opportunity to wish him every success in this important and vital role.

I am happy to recommend the adoption of this resolution to the House.

Fianna Fáil welcomes the appointment of Dr. Niall Muldoon as the new Ombudsman for Children. He brings a wealth of experience and insight to the role from his work in the area of child protection for almost 20 years. His extensive knowledge and expertise makes him an ideal candidate to safeguard the rights and welfare of children.

The Office of Ombudsman for Children, which has just marked its tenth anniversary this year, has become an intrinsic part of Ireland's social and public affairs in ensuring that the voices of children are heard. We would like to pay tribute to Dr. Muldoon on his work with the office to date and wish him well in his new role. We hope he will build on the great work that has been carried out during the ten years since the office was established.

I also take this opportunity to thank the outgoing ombudsman, Ms Emily Logan, who has provided the State and its citizens with an invaluable service since the establishment of the office. She has been at the forefront in establishing the office as a fearless defender of the rights of the vulnerable and the voice of children in our society. I wish her every success in her new role as chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Her independence and vision will be an enormous asset to the new human rights body.

The ombudsman's office was set up in the context of a national children's strategy launched in 2000, which at the time was internationally welcomed as a model of good practice for the provision of supports and services for children. That strategy marked a transformation in acknowledging the rights and the voice of children and in ensuring their concerns are central in political and administrative decisions. As set out at the time, its three main goals were to provide for an Ireland where children are respected as young citizens with a valued contribution to make and a voice of their own, where all children are cherished and supported by family and the wider society, and where they enjoy a fulfilling childhood and realise their potential.

Ireland, like other countries, established the ombudsman in the context of its international obligations as a signatory of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, there are not many countries that have domesticated the convention in the way Ireland has done, and for this both Ms Logan and Dr. Muldoon should be applauded.

The policy challenge is to realise the implications of the national children's strategy and our obligations under the UN convention, as well as the recent constitutional amendment, in practice. The role of an ombudsman is crucial in this regard: highlighting inequalities, advising the Government on how rights can be strengthened and, most importantly, handling complaints from people who believe that the rights of a child have not been met by State bodies.

The office has had a tremendously positive influence on Irish political and administrative systems and has been to the front in promoting cultural change in the way we think about public services, putting children to the fore in all decisions. It has acted as an empowering resource for children and families when dealing with authorities. Over the past ten years public knowledge of the office complaints procedure has grown and, with it, the number of complaints lodged and investigated. From 100 complaints in its first year, there have since been 10,000 complaints in the past ten years.

While the ombudsman has had an active and transformational effect on public services, the reality is that the Government is not doing enough to act on some of the ombudsman's recommendations and, more generally, to implement the Children First agenda.

The Government has proved all too good in the past at spouting rhetoric on cherishing the children of the nation equally, but the child protection services are not adequately resourced. As a result, dedicated front-line workers face major challenges in ensuring the most vulnerable in our society are protected.

There are still some immediate child protection issues that the Government has yet to address. The Children First Bill, published last year, and which was promised in 2011, does not go far enough in ensuring that people are forced to speak up when children are vulnerable to abuse. While the Children First Bill is supposed to end a culture of turning a blind eye to child abuse and other child protection issues, the Bill as proposed lacks teeth.

For instance, concerns have been raised, including by me, that the new Bill does not include any sanctions for those who refuse to report child protection issues. While professionals working with children will now be legally obliged to report concerns, there will be no consequences or penalties if they do not. Furthermore, no additional resources are being provided to implement the measures provided in this Bill. The introduction of mandatory reporting of allegations of child abuse must be backed up with adequate resources to handle all cases of suspected abuse. There will not be a properly functioning child protection structure in this State if our system cannot handle each and every allegation that is reported to the authorities.

The volume of concerns about children at risk reported to social services has increased by some 98% over the past seven years, from 21,000 to 41,600. However, budgets and staffing levels are nowhere near what is required to deal with these increased demands. The reality is that services are under severe pressure. Front-line social services are struggling to cope with heavy caseloads and scarce resources. Many cases are not getting the kind of rapid response they require. According to the latest figures, for example, there were around 9,000 reports of suspected abuse, neglect or welfare concerns, of which 3,500, having been classified as high-priority cases, are still awaiting the allocation of a social worker.

The previous Ombudsman for Children, Ms Emily Logan, expressed concern that safe social work was not possible in parts of the country in the face of continued resource shortages in the sector. While we can welcome the appointment of the ombudsman today, the Minister needs to urgently address the shortage of social workers in the system. The matter, which was highlighted by the previous ombudsman, still has not been addressed. There are almost 200 vacancies for social work posts, and an average of one social worker per week left his or her job between 2010 and 2014. We were promised a new start and higher standards with the establishment of the Child and Family Agency last year, yet despite the fanfare, problems with staffing have not been resolved.

Children referred to Tusla are some of the most vulnerable in our society, but because of deficiencies in the system these children cannot currently be guaranteed an individual care plan. According to Tusla's figures, almost 500 children in care still do not have an assigned social worker, and even if they are allocated a social worker, overburdened staff cannot visit these children on a regular basis. These are children in need of consistency and stability in their lives. However, the delays in the system mean that children who are not deemed to be at immediate risk often do not get to see a social worker for six months. This means that by the time these vulnerable children are in their teens or have developed a problem, they are not familiar with their social worker and have not built up a relationship of trust through regular meetings. What is equally worrying is the high number of social workers leaving their jobs over the past four years. Not only does this leave a gap in the system, it makes it almost impossible for these children to build up a relationship with individual social workers due to high staff turnover. I make these points because, while the role of the ombudsman is to investigate where the State is failing, if we as a society and State do not address this, and if the Government does not put in place the necessary resources, that is simply not good enough.

I want to finish on a positive note by again congratulating Dr. Muldoon. The work of an ombudsman can often involve a healthy tension with the Departments it investigates, and that is inevitable. However, I am glad there is a healthy respect for the office among the bodies it investigates and, more especially, that the public seem to be interested and engaged in its work. I am certain that Dr. Muldoon is the right person to guide the office in the right direction and maintain its independence and the public's esteem.

I would like to congratulate Dr. Niall Muldoon, on behalf of Sinn Féin, on his nomination as the new Ombudsman for Children. Given the large number of applications for the post, which numbered 97, it is a huge achievement and an endorsement of his obvious capabilities. His commitment to child protection, having worked in the area for nearly 20 years and having operated as director of investigations at the Office of the Ombudsman for Children in his most recent post, is abundantly clear. The work of the Office of the Ombudsman for Children is crucial in providing a voice to children within this State and ensuring their protection.

In the past ten years the office has dealt with 10,000 complaints from children and families. It has engaged with numerous public bodies and service providers and has achieved numerous positive outcomes from investigations. It has commented on and influenced significant pieces of legislation relating to children and has delivered a human rights education programme to thousands of children and postgraduate students. In 2013, the reporting period for its recent annual report, 1,677 complaints were dealt with by the office, an increase of 16% since 2012. The vast majority of complainants were parents contacting the Ombudsman for Children’s office on behalf of their children. Complaints about education and family support and care and protection, at 43% and 26%, respectively, were the two main categories.

The Ombudsman for Children has a statutory obligation to raise awareness of children’s rights among the public, including with children directly. It runs dedicated human rights education programmes aimed at schools and targeted postgraduate institutions. During 2013, almost 1,500 children and young people from schools in 17 counties visited the Ombudsman for Children, and 150 students from eight third-level institutions participated in the programme.

I would also like to pay homage to the previous Ombudsman for Children, Ms Emily Logan, who took up the role of chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in October last year. Work carried out under her tenure has been seismic in terms of the progressive steps taken to create the change that is needed to adapt to the changes in Irish society and, as she has said, "to make real progress in the way children and families are treated by the State."

In addition to its role in investigating complaints, the Ombudsman for Children has authority under section 7 of the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002 to advise on the probable effect of legislation on children. In 2013 the Ombudsman for Children gave advice to Government Ministers on substantial pieces of legislation, including advice on the general scheme of the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill, the scheme of the Gender Recognition Bill 2013 and the Courts Bill 2013.

In her first annual report to the Oireachtas, Ms Logan raised concerns about the exclusion from the ombudsman's remit of the administration of laws relating to asylum, immigration, naturalisation and citizenship, including children in direct provision. This exclusion was the subject of significant debate during the passage of the Ombudsman for Children Bill through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The provision of services for children in care has also formed a significant part of the office’s work. Children in the care of the State and how they are looked after by the HSE has been a regular source of complaints to the office. As outlined by the office, it is clear that many problems identified are manifestations of recurring and systemic difficulties. Due to the establishment of the new Child and Family Agency, the office submitted to the Oireachtas a meta-analysis of a number of investigations in the area of children in care. The aim of the report was to highlight recurring and systemic issues. It is hoped that the findings of this report and the recommendations it contains will contribute positively to the ongoing reform of Ireland’s child and family support services. I fully commend and support this work.

The work of the Ombudsman for Children and the office at large cannot be emphasised enough. I wish Dr. Muldoon well on the many challenges ahead and very much look forward to working with him in future.

I do not know Dr. Niall Muldoon but I suspect his qualifications are considerable, as he saw off competition from excellent advocates of children's rights such as Senator Jillian van Turnhout and others. I can only trust that his capability is considerable and I wish him well in his post.

Our examination of the appointment of a new ombudsman gives us the chance to look at the role of the office. We can consider this as a new juncture, look at what has been good about the office and what areas we might be able to strengthen. It has been quite a considerable success in many ways and we know the aims of the children's ombudsman are threefold. It examines and investigates complaints related to services, and the ombudsman has done a good job in this regard. It is notable that most of the complaints it has dealt with have come in under the headings of health and education, and in my experience it has played an incredibly positive note. The only warning sign is that the overwhelming bulk of complaints - 97% - come from adults rather than children, so we must pay more attention to the area. We must consider how to empower children to speak up for themselves more often.

With regard to service provision in general, the ombudsman has been an incredibly positive contributor. When we speak abstractly about children's rights, we cannot divorce the issue from the economic context in which our children are growing up, record levels of child poverty and growing rates of homelessness. There were 741 children sleeping in hostels in Dublin in November last year, which indicates that we must do more than talking about the rights of children. We must address their economic needs, and this issue is integrated with broader policies that contradict the neoliberal agenda being imposed by this Government.

The ombudsman has done very good work within the areas of advice for children's rights and research. There was the example of how the Roma children were dealt with and the racial profiling of Traveller children by An Garda Síochána. When Deputy Wallace and I tried to raise these issues in the House, we were referred to as being a "disgrace" by the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter. Nevertheless, it became obvious that racial profiling exists, so this is an area in which we must strengthen the ombudsman's hand. The office has a role to play, as there have been some very worrying trends. A child care reporting project revealed that one in every four child care cases ending in the courts involves parents where at least one parent was a member of an ethnic minority. African families are 20 times more likely to have a care order placed against their children. We know the policy is that it is best for children to be raised with their parents, and when they must be removed, it should be linked to a reunification plan. We must be cognisant that there can sometimes be cultural differences that are not understood and which must be factored in.

The first ten years of the ombudsman project have been largely beneficial but we must do more. I will put to the Minister a number of concrete measures in this respect. We need the children's ombudsman to be represented on the new Garda authority. It is a necessity and the ombudsman has spoken for this role. If the new Garda authority is to be meaningful and genuinely accountable, there is a role for the ombudsman on it. We need to have stronger actions against public bodies that breach children's rights, and there is not enough of a deterrent currently. We must examine mechanisms to do this. The issue of children languishing - incarcerated, in effect - in direct provision must be addressed and there must be a lifting of the children's ombudsman's ability to investigate children's rights in direct provision scenarios. We all know the efforts to do so have been thwarted by the Department of Justice and Equality, which is not good enough. If we are talking about cherishing all children of the nation equally, it must start with our most vulnerable. I am in favour of extending the powers of the ombudsman. The office has done a good job and it can be empowered to do an even better job.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak to the appointment of the new Ombudsman for Children, and I wish Dr. Niall Muldoon the best of luck, as it is a very important position. I also thank the previous ombudsman, Ms Emily Logan, for her fantastic work and commend her on it. I wish her well in her new position dealing with human rights issues.

These are important issues and the country must ensure the human rights of children are protected. We must deal with the matter in a strong and constructive fashion. The role of the Ombudsman for Children is to promote and safeguard the rights and welfare of children and young people up to 18 years old and investigate complaints made by children and young people, or adults on their behalf. This happens with schools, hospitals, Departments and certain public bodies. The ombudsman also has a mandate to accept and investigate complaints about how the State provides services or makes decisions about children. The office has dealt with approximately 8,500 complaints from the public to date.

Today, there are more than 8,000 cases of child abuse, neglect and welfare concerns involving children at risk which are waiting to be allocated a social worker. This makes a mockery of the children's rights referendum and it amounts to blatant neglect. In the media today we saw that the plan to reform special needs funding for children with disabilities has been put off again. I brought legislation before the House which was accepted by the Government, the Down's Syndrome (Equality of Access) Bill. We were hoping such measures could be implemented for children in September but the plans have been parked and the final decision has been deferred. They will not be in place in September. We gave the Government the opportunity for a good build-up to aim for the September target, but the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, indicated today that it will not happen. This is unacceptable and from a children's rights perspective, it amounts to neglect.

We must focus on children in poverty in this society. The rate of children in poverty has increased from 7.7% in 2012 to 8.2%. This is a national scandal. There are also 1.4 million people - 31% of the population - who cannot afford basic items. There are 135,000 children in poverty, so we must address that issue. A total of 25% of the population cannot afford to heat their homes, and we all know how cold it has been in recent weeks. Most of these people are unemployed or have a disability. Ireland ranks 37th out of 41 OECD countries with respect to child poverty.

The other issue I mentioned is wealth and access to special education. The report of the Department of Education and Skills states that children in wealthy areas receive more special education teaching than children in other areas. In the Dublin 4 area on the south side, for example, there is a higher number of resource teachers than is the case in parts of my constituency, Dublin 17. The reason is that the more affluent parents can have private assessments carried out for between €400 and €600. Once the assessment is carried out, they can get the resources for their children. Good luck to them if they have a child with disability, but it does not mean one should exclude the children in Dublin 17. It is unacceptable. All children should have equal access to education services, irrespective of their parents' wealth or resources.

The role of the Ombudsman for Children is to promote the rights and welfare of children. We must fight strongly for that. It must also investigate complaints about services and provide advice regarding children's rights as well as conduct research on relevant issues. Dr. Niall Muldoon has an excellent track record and curriculum vitae, CV. I wish him well in his new position and I hope he will push the agenda that children in the State are treated with respect, equality and, above all, are given a chance to develop to the best of their ability so they can have a future in this country.

I thank the Deputies for their contributions to the debate, although I note with some regret the tone of Deputy Troy's, who took the opportunity to have a political fling at the Government. It is a pity he did not wait to hear my reply.

I have much pleasure in recommending to the House that Dr. Niall Muldoon be appointed by the President to be the Ombudsman for Children. Dr. Muldoon comes to the post with a wealth of experience. He is currently the director of investigations at the Ombudsman for Children's Office and has held that role for two and a half years. He is a registered clinical and counselling psychologist and was formerly the national clinical director of CARI, Children at Risk in Ireland, a children's charity based in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. He has worked in the area of child protection for nearly 20 years. I am satisfied that in Dr. Muldoon we have a well-qualified, experienced and suitable nominee for appointment as the next Ombudsman for Children.

I thank the Public Appointments Service for its rigour in managing the selection process, which included input from children, in a fair and open manner at all stages. I particularly thank the children and young people who attended the two consultation workshops for their participation, and their families for their support. I was delighted to attend both consultation workshops with the children and young people and it was a pleasure to listen to their views. Over the course of the two days they gave us interesting opinions on what they believed were the key requirements in the person to become the new Ombudsman for Children.

I am greatly encouraged by the significant interest in the post of Ombudsman for Children, which is an integral part of an enhanced architecture in the State devoted to improving the lives of our children and young people. I am fully confident that Dr. Niall Muldoon will bring a great deal of prior experience and knowledge to the position and am happy to propose that the House recommend him for appointment by the President to be the Ombudsman for Children.

Question put and agreed to.
Barr
Roinn