The Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, has expressed concern about a lack of independent assessment of residential care services for children with disabilities.
Speaking at the launch of her annual report yesterday, Ms Logan said that the Irish Social Services Inspectorate (ISSI) did not have any remit at present to inspect residential care services for children with disabilities.
"There has never been any independent inspection of such services in Ireland," she said.
The ISSI has responsibility for inspecting residential childcare services managed by the Health Service Executive.
"A complaint was made to my office by the father of a child with an intellectual disability about care services his child was accessing.
"While the substantive issue could be investigated by my office, the man requested that we did not investigate the matter as he was fearful of the response that making a complaint might bring upon his child. I am concerned that any parent would be fearful of a system on which their child relies.
"Good mechanisms of accountability and independent inspection will help ensure that policy, practice, procedures are of the highest standard. The system must be accountable to ensure these children receive the quality and standard of care that they deserve," said Ms Logan.
She said she has raised the issue of extending the remit of the ISSI with the Minister of State for Children, Brian Lenihan.
Ms Logan also said there had been a significant increase in the number of complaints filed to her office last year.
There had been 790 complaints received last year, compared with 177 in the previous period from April 2004 to April 2005. Ms Logan attributed the increase in complaints to a growing awareness of the existence of her office.
More than 40 per cent of complaints were about education. The issue most frequently raised within this category was special needs allocation, which made up 18.7 per cent of concerns.
Health concerns represented 32 per cent of the complaints, with this category dominated by child protection.