We have to be clear; I have not met a childminder who has an issue with regulations. Most of them have first aid training, insurance and Garda vetting. They have much of it in place for so many years already. That is not the issue. Rather, the issue lies with the inspections. Inspections will form part of the regulations – we all know that – but it is about what those inspections will look like and the rooms in the family home the inspector will go into. These are details that childminders should have before and wh…

I want to give the Minister the opportunity to respond to the HIQA report that has been published recently in relation to Tusla services in Dublin north city.

I am glad to hear, and obviously the Minister has had it confirmed, that progress has been made in relation to the very serious findings not only in the initial inspection in April 2024 but also when HIQA went in well over a year later in June 2025 and things were not much improved at all. One example HIQA gave was a child with a disability who was non-verbal awaiting completion of a preliminary inquiry and safety planning for over two months. It reminded me, I have to say, of the Grace case - a non-verbal child wi…

When the word "allocated" is used, the figures look like a child is allocated to a social worker and therefore getting support but we also know from the HIQA report that some children were allocated to staff on extended statutory leave and had received no contact. We need to be careful in relation to what "allocated" actually means and that it is not just that a case is allocated but the case and the child concerned in that case is actually being seen and getting the support needed. There is also a need for consist…

I want to ask the Minister about the awaited annual reports from the special rapporteur on child protection and when they will be published. The special rapporteur was appointed in February 2023; it is now almost 2026. It is actually coming to the end of her term and we have not seen any report whatsoever unless the Minister has. I would appreciate an update on this.

Unless I am missing something, the Minister should have received by now an annual report from somebody who was appointed in February 2023 and who is almost at the end of her three-year term. I would have expected the reports to have been annual. I take the Minister’s point entirely that the role is extremely important. It is about our child protection system in Ireland. There are few things more important, particularly in the Minister’s Department. Was there an expectation or a timeline concerning annual reports wh…

I thank the Minister. I appreciate that the special rapporteur is considering the year before she took up her role. It would be great to see the reports from her term in the first instance, but I welcome that the reports are imminent, if that is the case. I find it bizarre that, despite someone being appointed to the role in February 2023, we are now almost at the end of her term and still have not had an annual report. I hope that with the next appointment, we will have annual reports. As the Minister said, this i…

I ask the Minister for a timeframe for the implementation of the recent recommendations that have been published by the national review panel. Given the Kyran Durnin case, which the NRPl examined, it is really important that we have a very clear timeframe for when each of these recommendations must be implemented.

With a number of Departments and agencies involved, it is really important that one person has oversight for ensuring that each of the recommendations is implemented as quickly as possible. I imagine that recommendations such as guidance, reviewing the protocol between the Garda and Tusla, and reviews of GDPR should all be initiated very quickly and some of them will be able to be implemented very quickly. Given the nature of the review panel's work, it is really important that we have a clear timeline for each of …

I appreciate all of that and I thank the Minister for those updates. It would be really helpful for her to provide to the Departments and agencies involved a time frame to ensure that each of the recommendations made by the national review panel is met. As I said, we will get further recommendations and more work is needed in these areas. That is why it is so important to have a clear and specific timeframe that the Department and agencies, particularly Tusla, are working towards. These recommendations need to be i…

I acknowledge the men, women and children with disabilities who came to Leinster House earlier today in the midst of a storm. They came here to send a clear message to the Government that they are now choosing between eating and heating their homes. We heard from people who are deciding how many bars of gas they could turn on and how many more trips they can make to the food bank in a week. What a shame. What an incredible situation for a rich country in 2025, to have people in their wheelchairs travelling to Dubli…

I raised with the Minister previously the situation in County Roscommon where they are having major difficulties in sourcing a building that meets the requirements to become a refuge. Will the Minister look at areas such as County Roscommon that, despite best efforts, are struggling to find such a building?

I acknowledge Cuan, the agency, and the work it is doing and the efforts that are being made to increase capacity when it comes to refuge spaces and safe houses for those who are fleeing domestic violence or violence typically in their own home. A number of sites had been identified by Roscommon Safe Link but, because of the criteria being so rigid, none of those sites was found to meet the criteria in place. We all hope that the site identified now will be the site. I would ask that in certain areas, such as Count…

I hope we will see that development of a refuge in County Roscommon because, as I said, the need is there. I hope the site that has been identified will be successful. The Minister is correct that in most of these cases, it is the woman who flees the home. That should not be the case. We should be looking at turning that around, where the abuser is the one who has to lose his home, typically, as the case may be. That is the way we should look at it. For the refuges we need, particularly in the west in counties like…

Nine weeks ago, on the return of the Dáil, I wrote to the Minister for Health in relation to a decision made to remove hundreds of births from the maternity service in Portiuncula in Ballinasloe. I looked for a meeting for all Oireachtas Members and all parties, not just myself, with the Minister for Health. We have had mixed messages. We have had the 2018 Walker report on maternity services in Portiuncula. HSE management and the hospital manager told us the report's recommendations were implemented in full. The ch…

What the Minister calls agricultural sensitivities, we see as a real threat to Irish agriculture and Irish farm families the length and breadth of our State. It is a real kick in the teeth to farmers who have to bend over backwards and work so hard to meet regulation after regulation. They have to meet a bar that is set so high, and they meet it, high as it is, yet they then see the real possibility of tens of thousands of tonnes of beef coming into the EU totally unregulated. I grew up on a beef and suckler farm. …

I hope the Minister will hear us about the issues that childminders are bringing to our attention and the need for that review to take place as quickly as possible. The regulations have been in place for just over one year. It is the perfect time for that review now to commence. When does the Minister expect that review to begin? Childminders are telling parents that they are already leaving. We need the review as soon as possible.

I urge the Minister to ensure that the review takes place early next year. I was on the radio today. There was someone on with me who has been a childminder for 17 years. She is leaving. She has told the parents of the children that she will not be able to look after them at the end of the school year next June. She is one of many. I do not see any reason that a review of the regulations would be delayed. If we go through the regulations, one example of them being unworkable is the emergency cover. There has to be …

Respectfully, the problem is that some of those childminders at that point will be gone. If we are waiting for them to register with Tulsa and we then engage with them at that point, is it under 200 of the 13,000 or 14,000 childminders in the State who have registered with Tusla to date? It is happening at a snail’s pace. If that is what we are waiting for, then the review will be almost a waste of time. At a time when we are short about 40,000 or 50,000 childcare places in this State, we have childminders who have…

That was the first year. It is over; it is gone.