Fine Gael Spokesperson on Children, Alan Shatter TD, today (Tuesday) said, ‘the Minister for Children Barry Andrews TD should publicly explain why he announced in a press release last night the establishment of an Independent Review Group into the deaths of children in care and made no mention of any nature of the need for such group or of an intention to appoint such group in the Dáil debate on this issue that took place on Thursday evening last.’

“Now that the Minister has recognised the necessity for transparency he should state whether information received by him since Thursday evening’s debate contradicts the information given by him to the Dáil either about the number of children in care who have died in the past decade or the information given by him to the Dáil concerning the circumstances of such deaths.

“The Minister should also fully explain what additional measures he asked the HSE to undertake ‘as a matter of urgency’ in his meeting with the Chairman of the HSE and HSE officials. Over a year has elapsed since I first sought from the Minister the information he states he requested from the HSE on child deaths in care. The Minister should explain why he failed to prioritise such action long ago.

“It should not have required the publication by Fine Gael of the report into the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of Tracey Fay for the Government and the Minister for Children to seriously address the indefensible failures in our child care services which have resulted in the death of so many children in care.”

Ends