AN INDEPENDENT group will examine the deaths of children in the care of the HSE over the last decade, it was announced last night.
Minister for Children Barry Andrews said last night the group will investigate the HSE’s own reviews of the deaths of children in its care since 2000, other than those who died of natural causes.
An Oireachtas committee heard last week that 10 reports into the deaths of children were being compiled, two were almost ready for publication and two were going through the “legal process”. The HSE has not published a report into the death of a child in State care since it was set up in 2005, despite the fact that 23 children have died in the past decade.
The group will be composed of child law expert Geoffrey Shannon and Norah Gibbons of Barnardos, and a third, international figure, has yet to be announced. Mr Andrews said he would appoint this member, who would be “an independent person of international standing”.
The group is being asked to report to the Minister for Children. Terms of reference include examining the reviews or reports completed by the HSE into the deaths, and providing anonymised summary information relating to each child and the circumstances leading up to his or her death, focusing in particular on the involvement of HSE services with the child and his or her family.
The group will also make recommendations as to how child protection responses can be strengthened, insofar as this can be identified from the reviews or reports.
Ms Gibbons is already chairing an inquiry into HSE involvement with a family where the mother was convicted last year of incest, neglect and cruelty towards the children, and the father in recent weeks was convicted of the rape of his son.
The setting up of the group follows criticism of the Minister and the HSE after publication of the HSE’s report into the death of Tracey Fay last week. The report strongly criticised what it said was the State’s chaotic provision of care accommodation, the lack of a systematic care plan, and a failure to provide addiction services. It was completed in October 2008 but not then published. The HSE said it wanted to contact the family before publication.
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Mr Andrews said he was not aware of any disciplinary action against any HSE social worker following the deaths of 23 children while in State care over 10 years.
“None of the recommendations that we saw last week had anything to do with taking people to account, so we have to assume that the failures are system failures and not individual examples of neglect. But if a recommendation comes out saying such and such an individual is clearly in dereliction of duty and shouldn’t be doing what they are doing, then that’s a recommendation we act on.”