Child Abuse Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-08 ============================================================ Frankie Feighan (FG), Sligo-Leitrim I thank the Senator for raising this important matter in the House. I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. I am aware of the issues raised by the Senator. He will appreciate that neither I nor the HSE can comment on any individual case. The HSE, as a matter of routine, rigorously investigates any allegations of the nature made in this case and notifies all appropriate agencies and individuals. I understand that HSE West and North-West is progressing an independent external review under the HSE incident management framework of 2020 relating to a counselling service in the north west. This review was initiated following concerns raised in relation to children first mandatory reporting. The company has examined a number of records from the counselling service. These have been subject to an agreed review process in line with the terms of reference. The independent company has completed the first and second review of documentation provided by the HSE within the agreed timeframe. Recently, the company sought further records from the HSE, which is in the process of compiling them. The HSE advises that it has engaged with staff directly in relation to this process, in line with the incident management framework. I understand that while the HSE has been actively working on this issue from the outset, the formal review process took longer than anticipated to commence owing to its complexity. While the HSE regrets the delay to date, it must allow the company to complete its review within the parameters of the terms of reference. Once this review is completed, the HSE will take any required actions to ensure that the findings and recommendations are implemented in full. Under the Children First Act 2015, there are specific legal obligations for certain staff known as “mandated persons” to report certain information relating to harm of a child to Tusla. This is known as mandatory reporting. The Children First Act 2015 is supported by the Children First National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children of 2017, and the HSE child protection and welfare policy, which sets out the roles, responsibilities and procedures assigned to ensure the effective management of child protection and welfare concerns in the HSE. The HSE is very clear about the obligations of mandated persons. All staff are regularly made aware of the policy and the obligations on mandated staff to report their concerns to Tusla and-or An Garda Síochána, where necessary. The HSE indicates that, after the relevant therapists wrote to the CEO of the HSE in October 2024 on this matter, the CEO wrote to the health region stating there should be no line management screening of mandated reporting by individual professions and suggested the therapists be advised immediately that they are free to contact Tusla directly. The relevant staff were advised of this. One aspect of the existing HSE child protection and welfare policy indicates that staff should inform their line manager when a concern arises and-or when a concern is reported to Tusla. The purpose of this is for communication; consultation when a staff member is unsure about their concern, particularly staff who are not mandated persons; and for the line manager to ensure that the child protection and welfare reporting procedure is followed correctly. The HSE advises it is not intended to be a screening of a concern or a barrier to reporting. The HSE policy clearly states that when there is disagreement about the threshold of concern, either party can seek further consultation with Tusla and that if people remain concerned, they should report this concern to Tusla and-or An Garda Síochána. The policy also states that a mandated person cannot delegate their responsibility to report. Despite these safeguards, unfortunately, serious cases of this nature can arise, albeit infrequently, within the health service or elsewhere in society. I, therefore, urge all those who require care now or in the future to seek help without delay, or to continue to engage with services if they are already in the system. Again, I stress that the existing wide range of HSE youth mental health services provides vital care supports to many vulnerable young people and their families each year and make a real difference to achieving recovery. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-08/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:10+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-08