I thank the Minister for publishing the report in full. I join with my colleagues in commending her on that, as well as on her obvious commitment to change and to ensuring steps are taken to redress the balance. I spent the night reading the report and the last time I spent a night reading a book was following the publication of the last book in the Harry Potter series, when it came out at midnight. I queued with my niece to buy it, after which we spent the night on the sofa reading it. The children in this report do not have such magical family moments and that point really hit home for me through the night as I read each case study in the report. On the news this morning, David Davin-Power stated the report will give many Deputies grey hairs and sleepless nights. Unfortunately, he was referring to the Constituency Commission report and not to the child death report, which I consider to be essential reading for every Deputy and Senator. It is the report that should be giving sleepless nights and grey hairs. As the rain poured down through the night, I thought of the homeless children, the existing services and the urgency for action that must be applied.
While I would like to give more commentary, I wish to turn to what I believe must be done. However, I wish to join in commending the report's authors, Dr. Geoffrey Shannon and Ms Norah Gibbons, and their teams, who have provided members with an insight and evidence. While some aspects came out in the Ryan report and the Ryan report implementation plan, members are now getting a deeper insight into this issue. I welcome the Minister's announcement today of her intention to bring forward an implementation programme that will go to a Cabinet committee on a quarterly basis. I believe there is a role for this joint committee in this regard in respect of reviewing its implementation, as well as in tracking and furthering it, as clear timelines and commitments are needed.
The child and family support agency will be soon established. Will it include or be easily able to access the services that have been mentioned repeatedly in the report? In some cases, they were accessed but perhaps not connected. The dots were not joined up between psychological services, mental health teams and addiction services.
There is a prevalence of alcohol abuse. Alcohol and drugs are often mentioned in one sentence but many of the cases concern alcohol consumption by parents. We must face up to that.
In many of these cases resources, such as speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists, were being accessed by families but were not connected up. This is a role the new child and family support agency can play. It must be either part of it or be able to access it easily. There needs to be a central reporting facility because the same child and family are involved.
The Minister mentioned the importance of education and school attendance. One child was not in school for two years and nobody noticed. What is the role of the National Education Welfare Board and how does it connect with the relevant services? How do we ensure that does not happen again? That case was shocking. It was also quite telling in the report how quickly a child's life spiralled out of control when, for whatever reason, he or she started to disengage from the education system. The lack of continuity in record-keeping, professional supervision, support and appropriate referrals was a significant issue. Matters were dealt with as singular, episodic incidences rather than looking at a child's case and journey. Will people be held to account and will there be sanctions? Will there now be clear lines of accountability? That was not the purpose of this report but it should be the next step. In many cases, social workers and others involved did so much for children. They should be commended for trying to help right up to the child's last gasp. Even sadder is the fact that they had to fight the system to pay for funeral costs. I was shocked by that. Surely one does not have to fight a system to pay for funeral costs. There has to be much more accountability and transparency. The provision of nationwide after-hours services has been echoed by my colleagues and by the Minister. If a child and its family is in crisis, the services need to be in place for them, in addition to interconnected information systems. Each case should not be dealt with as a single episode.
I welcome the Minister's commitment to engage with the Minister for Justice and Equality, as well as with the Courts Service on the in camera rule. It is long overdue and must happen now. Like many aspects of the report, we have repeatedly heard about that rule. I also welcome the Minister’s commitment to create a child death review unit. I agree with her that the panel that has been working is fair. In May 2010, however, when it was set up, I spoke out - in my previous role in the Children’s Rights Alliance - saying it was not the right way to do it. Whatever the perception is from the outside, the unit should be independent, transparent and accountable. The report by Dr. Geoffrey Shannon and Ms Norah Gibbons is a vindication of the type of unit that should be established.
There is a role for this committee in examining the reports that will emanate from the child death review unit. I ask the Minister to examine that aspect. The report clearly states that the Child Care Act 1991 needs to be amended concerning supervision orders and after care. The Minister has made such a commitment this morning. There are things we should be able to introduce reasonably quickly. I ask the Minister to speed up the process to have the necessary tools available for those services, including after care.
The question of early intervention arises repeatedly throughout the report and that highlights the importance of the new agency which must be in place for all children. The child and family support agency should not be a poor sibling of the HSE which will not be fully resourced, thus getting second-hand leftovers. It has to be properly resourced so that we can intervene earlier. It is there for all children.
The report reinforces the need for the constitutional referendum on children's rights, which the authors reference twice. The State needs to be able to respond earlier, proportionately and decisively. Hopefully in most cases it is about working to keep families together. Obviously, however, when a child is at risk it will be helped. I welcome this morning's announcement by the Tánaiste in the Dáil that the referendum will take place in the autumn, on a stand-alone basis.
Coming back to the implementation programme, clear timelines and commitments are required. We are all on the same side concerning this issue and want to work together. This report is a damning indictment for us as a society - we have all been living here while these children were failed by us. We must do better. I can talk about my sadness, but that is not good enough. We must all act and do something in this regard.