Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher Leas Cheann Comhairle has criticised Minister Katherine Zappone for her failure to provide a 24-hour social service during her first year in office as was committed to by the Government.
The recommendation to have 24 hour social services available was contained in an audit of the legislation which currently allows Gardaí to remove children from their homes in emergency situations due to the lack of alternative 24 hour social care services being available.
Pat the Cope said: “I am shocked and disappointed by Minister Zappone’s lack of action in response to the disturbing findings of Geoffrey Shannon’s audit.
“This report highlighted serious gaps in Ireland’s child protection system, perhaps most obviously the lack of an out-of-hours social service for children in need.
“We are all well aware of the fact that social care emergencies are not confined to office hours and it is appalling to think that vulnerable and at-risk children are unable to access social care services after 5pm on weekdays or at weekends or bank holidays. I wish to complement the trojan work carried out in this section by our Party’s spokesperson Anne Rabbitte.”
Pat the Cope stated that the current flawed system sees Gardaí taking on responsibility for child protection issues outside of current “working hours”, and the lack of progress in providing 24 hour service will see this situation continue.
He said that many Gardaí have expressed concern that they are not properly trained in this area and do not feel prepared in dealing with these cases. This is an unacceptable situation for both the Gardaí and the children concerned.
“The Minister’s and Government’s response to this audit has been to ask Tusla to examine the “demand” for an out-of-hours service – this is an exercise in time wasting and it goes without saying that determining demand is completely missing the point, for as long as one needs or requires the service there is a duty on the state to provide such services.
“There are several cases examined as part of the audit which conclude that children were repeatedly placed back in abusive homes and situations due to the lack of an out-of-hours social work service. It is obvious that a 24 hour social work service is needed in this state and in fact it is long overdue.
“The Minister cannot continue to delay this necessary measure – vulnerable children are being put at risk because of the gaps in our system and these are gaps which are well known about and previously highlighted.
“So many instances of the need for 24 hour care have been highlighted but yet we have seen no commitment from the Government despite the evidence urgently requiring such a service.
“I am calling on the Government to immediately act without further delay and put in place a 24 hour service which is properly resourced and staffed,” concluded Pat the Cope.
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