Ard Fheis Speech 4th April 2009
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
SPEECH DELIVERED BY ALAN SHATTER TD, FINE GAEL FRONT BENCH SPOKESPERSON ON CHILDREN, AT THE FINE GAEL ARD FHEIS ON SATURDAY, 4th APRIL, 2009 at 2.00 pm
There has been much talk about a Constitutional Referendum on Children’s Rights. The Fianna Fail led Government of Bertie Ahern even went so far as to publish a Referendum Bill in Spring 2007. However, the Brian Cowan led Government has been blowing hot and cold on the issue since the Lisbon Referendum.
When Bertie Ahern was Taoiseach, the Government gave an unconditional commitment to hold a Referendum to reinstate the criminal offence of Statutory Rape. It promised to provide an absolute zone of protection for children from sexual exploitation and abuse by adults who prey on them. A Joint Oireachtas Committee was formed to seek consensus on the wording of the new constitutional provision to be voted on in a Referendum. Fine Gael in good faith is fully participating in the work of this Committee.
In July last the current Minister for Children, shortly after his appointment as a member of the Committee and barely a wet week in office, publicly expressed doubts about the need for a Referendum on Children’s Rights and Statutory Rape. There was also a noticeable change in the approach of the Government appointed members of the Committee. Fine Gael has had a growing concern that the Government intends to renege on its commitment to hold a constitutional referendum not only on the issue of statutory rape but also to give express recognition to childrens rights. Regrettably, on Thursday of this week the Minister for Children finally confirmed the Governments act of betrayal.
In a speech made by him opening a conference of the Childrens Rights Alliance, ironically on the subject of ‘Childrens Rights in Ireland’, he stated with regard to childrens rights that “Despite some perceptions, the Government has made no decision on the question of whether or not to have a referendum.” This Government position is entirely different to that articulated in Spring 2007 when the Constitutional Referendum Bill on childrens rights was published and to that of December 2007 when the Joint Oireachtas Committee was established. If the Government has abandoned its commitment to a childrens rights amendment to our constitution a serious question arises as to whether there is any purpose in this Committee continuing its work.
The Committee’s Interim Report on Statutory Rape will be published shortly after Easter. It is now absolutely clear that there will be no consensus and that a majority of the Committee, including the Minister for Children, oppose a Referendum to enable new laws to be enacted to reinstate the offence of Statutory Rape.
It is now certain that children will not receive the protection to which they are entitled for as long as the present Government and the current incompetent Minister for Children remain in office. Fine Gael remains absolutely committed to reinstating the criminal offence of Statutory Rape and to the holding of the Referendum required to enable the Oireachtas to do so. However, it is clear that the Referendum originally promised on this issue will not take place during the lifetime of this Government.
Whilst the Government has been playing charades with Children’s Rights, it has been undermining and dismantling children’s services and betraying our children’s future. What can you tell children about the present Government?
Tell them if they have special needs, the Government is intent on removing Special Needs Teachers from our schools.
Tell them if they suffer from Cystic Fibrosis, the Government does not recognise or value their right to life.
Tell them if they are reported to be victims of abuse or neglect, the Government will do nothing to ensure such reports made to our Child Care Services are promptly and fully investigated.
Tell them that if their parents are incapable of caring for them and they find themselves out on the streets, no adequate provision may be made for their care and the Government will take no meaningful action to protect them from becoming the drug addicted victims of streetwise drug dealers and drug gangs.
Tell them that if they have psychiatric difficulties, they will be put on a two year waiting list for assessment and nothing may be done even if they are suicidal.
Tell them also if they are girls, the Government does not value their lives sufficiently to ensure they receive the benefits of a Cervical Cancer Immunisation Programme.
Tell them, because they should know, that the current Government cannot be trusted with their present or their future. Tell them, for their sake, we need a change of Government.
For many years there was an obvious need for the appointment of a Minister for Children and the creation of a Department for Children to oversee and coordinate policy and legislation on a broad range of issues that impact on the lives of children and to ensure the efficient delivery of all essential children’s services and, in particular, our Child Protection Services. Unfortunately, the present Minister for Children is both incompetent and sadly out of his depth. He disclaims responsibility for the provision of children’s services and even lacks the capacity to properly monitor their delivery. In the Spring of 2009, he is reliant on information published by the HSE applicable to the year 2006 with regard to the workings of our Child Protection Services.
Whilst it is known that across the thirty-two childcare designated HSE offices in the State charged with the delivery of Child Care Services, there are hundreds of files recording reports of children at risk unallocated to Social Workers, the Minister does not know how many such files exist; how many children are affected and require help; how many have been seriously injured or have lost their lives whilst awaiting Social Worker intervention. Extraordinarily, with regard to such children who have died, the Minister has failed to put in place any independent mechanism to investigate the circumstances surrounding their deaths to ensure any mistakes made are not again repeated and that those who have a statutory responsibility to deliver our Child Care Services are held accountable for the manner in which they do so. Scandalously, when this Minister was asked by me in the Dail, on 19th February last, the number of children who have died during the last ten years subsequent to a report of their being at risk and to detail the circumstances of their deaths, he did not know the answer. He has asked the HSE to furnish this information but could give no guarantee that it could do so within three months. It seems that the death of a child is of so little consequence to the Government and the HSE that there is no systematic collation of such information.
The truth is that our Child Protection Guidelines of 1999 are not being uniformally applied throughout our country to properly protect our children. The Minister knows this, but has taken no effective action to urgently make things right. The truth is the Minister for Children, Deputy Barry Andrews is guilty of failure on a greater scale than the failure of Bishop John Magee with regard to Cloyne which resulted in the Minister calling for the Bishop’s resignation. The criticism he rightly but cynically voiced about the inconsistencies in the application by the Church of its Child Abuse Guidelines and Standards equally applies to his failure to ensure consistency by the State and State agencies in the application of our Child Protection Guidelines. The reality is that the failure by the Minister and his Ministerial predecessors is more serious because it has a wider application than the failures of Bishop Magee in that it applies not merely to Cloyne but to the entirety of the country.
Whilst the Minister for Children disclaims responsibility for childrens services, the HSE lacks accountability. As the statutory body obliged to manage our Child Protection Services, it has abysmally failed to fulfil its statutory obligations. I believe the time has come to radically reform the workings of both the Department for Children and the statutory structure in place for the delivery of our Child Protection Services. There is a need to provide a fully integrated and responsive child friendly and effective service that is appropriately transparent and properly accountable.
Ireland is a small country. It makes little or no sense to have a Department for Children and a separate Child Protection Service that the Department cannot adequately oversee and in respect of which there is no real accountability. The time has come for serious consideration to be given to removing all responsibility from the HSE for the operation of our Child Protection Services and to providing a radically reformed structure for the provision of such services operating under the aegis of the Department for Children. The Minister for Children should be clearly and unambiguously responsible to Dáil Eireann not merely for publishing Child Protection Guidelines, but for ensuring their proper and uniform application to every child in this State reported to be at risk.
The Report published in 1996 into the tragic death of Kelly Fitzgerald recommended that the Department for Health and Children adopt a pro-active approach in monitoring our Child Care Services in order to ensure consistency on a national scale both in provision and in respect of procedures and practice. It is a scandal and a disgrace that almost fifteen years later, this recommendation has not been implemented and applied to the Department for Children. It is clear that it never will be by any Fianna Fáil led Government. It is one of the many reasons why this Government should be thrown out of office. For the sake of our children, it is time for them to go.
ends