Minister for Children Barry Andrews has told the Dáil that the State failed in its duty to protect 18-year-old mother of two Tracey Fay who died while in State care in 2002.
But Mr Andrews insisted there had been no attempt, on the part of the Government or any State agency, to “cover up” the report into her death which was published yesterday by Fine Gael.
The Health Service Executive report strongly criticises the State’s chaotic provision of care accommodation, the lack of a systematic care plan and a failure to provide addiction services.
The document was released by Fine Gael deputy Alan Shatter at a news conference called at short notice yesterday morning.
In a heated debate on the case in the Dáil today, Mr Andrews confirmed that 20 children had died in State care during the last decade, and that reports were being prepared in 10 cases.
But he warned the precedent set by Fine Gael in publishing the report into Ms Fay's death may jeopardise future inquiries.
Mr Andrews said the State agencies did not have an agenda to protect reputations but said the rights of individuals who co-operate with such inquiries, as well as the rights of family members, had to be balanced with the public’s right to know.
“It is a fundamental part of our system that we can carry out non-statutory inquiries from time to time, and the basis upon which people co-operate with such inquiries is on an understanding that their constitutional right to privacy will be protected,” he said.
“And you can be sure that if the precedent set yesterday is set to continue then nobody will co-operate with inquiries as they can safety assume that some member of the House of Oireachtas will publish a report that is not meant for the public.”
Mr Shatter said the fact that 20 children in the care of the State had died in a decade illustrated the State was paying “lip service” to child protection.
Defending his decision to publish the report, he said: “If we don’t have true transparency and accountability in our child care services, we will never implement properly the reforms that are required to ensure children are truly protected.”
While there are many dedicated people in the social services, he said, they were usually frustrated by the fact that they are being forced to offer a “fire brigade” service to protect children, and when they make recommendations the resources were not there.
“There are children walking the streets who remain at risk because of the failures of this minister and his predecessors and of the Government to ensure that children are properly protected,” he said.
In a statement released this evening the HSE said it believes that reports into serious incidents of children who die in care “need to be made public”.
Phil Garland of the HSE said: “While it is the intention of the HSE to publish reports into the death of children in care, due process and full consultation with the bereaved families, needs to take place before these reports can be put into the public domain.”
“This process is ongoing, and in some cases can take time,” he added.
Earlier today the Public Accounts Committee was told two reports into the deaths of children in State care were almost ready for publication while two more reports were going through legal process.
Health Service Executive (HSE) director of integrated services Laverne McGuinness said a further 10 reports are currently being compiled. She confirmed the HSE has not published any such reports since it was established in 2005.
Committee chairman Bernard Allen said delays of up to 10 years were “inexcusable”.
Using guidelines set out by the Health Information and Quality Authority to draft reports would make the process quicker in the future, Ms McGuinness said.
HSE chief executive Brendan Drumm told the committee there was a danger that some of the reports, if published, could become the source of lengthy legal proceedings in the court.
“If we go with a process that says every report is going to be published, getting the co-operation of the people you require to participate in that process could become not only prolonged but enormously expensive,” he said.
In the Dáil this morning, Opposition parties demanded that the Minister for Children Barry Andrews make a statement to TDs on why reports were being delayed and on the State's failure to protect a troubled Dublin teenager, who died while in State care in 2002.
Ms Fay, an 18-yera-old mother of two, was in voluntary care of the Eastern Health Board, now subsumed into the HSE, from 1998 to 2001. Her body was discovered in a disused coal bunker used by drug addicts on January 24th, 2002 in Granby Row in inner-city Dublin. The inquest into her death, which was held a month later, found she died of a drug overdose. A mixture of heroin and ecstasy was found in her blood.
The HSE report into the death of Ms Fay in January 2002 strongly criticises the State's "chaotic" provision of care accommodation, a lack of a systematic care plan and a failure to provide addiction services.
It also highlights the "missed opportunities" when Ms Fay came to the attention of child protection services following abuse perpetrated by her mother and her mother's partner.
This morning, Fine Gael spokesman on children Alan Shatter called for appropriate action to be taken "so that children at risk are properly protected by child care services".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Shatter said it was vital to "lift the veil of secrecy" of the State's child protection services. "How can we say we're properly protecting children when we know in 2008 over 9,000 children reported at risk did not have their circumstances properly investigated," he added.
The HSE has written to Mr Shatter asking him to withdraw from the public record a report on the death of Ms Fay on the basis that his publication of the document yesterday breaches the constitutional rights of her family.
Mr Shatter said this request was "fundamentally bizarre".