Child Abuse Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-08 ============================================================ Tom Clonan (IND), University of Dublin I thank the Minister of State for reading out the statement on behalf of the Minister, Deputy MacNeill. None of these remarks are directed personally at the Minister of State, but to be honest, ChatGPT could have written that response. In it, the Minister, Deputy MacNeill says she and the HSE cannot comment on individual cases. Then on the second page, she refers at length to this individual case, so they do and do not do so when it suits them. That is a rhetorical device to insulate themselves from responsibility. There is a serious problem in that area. The Ministers of State, Deputies Feighan and Harkin, and other TDs who are representatives of that area are now aware of it. They should be looking into it. I should not have to go up and down to Carrick-on-Shannon and Sligo on a child protection issue. This should be dealt with with energy and urgency, because all this talk about process is not child-centred. It is administration-centred and it is a classic HSE tactic to cover up, deny and delay grave matters. I want to know why this particular manager is pushing back on mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse. There are serious questions to be answered here. I will conclude with this. A moral excuse can be made for theft to save people's lives if they rob some food. A moral rationale can even made for killing in defence of people's own lives. The one thing as a species we have no rationale for - there can be no defence for - is the rape of a child and here we have a manager who says that concerns in this regard should not be reported. I cannot think of a more serious issue that has been brought before this House. --- 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