For the past two weeks, the excellent RTE series, States of Fear, has shocked us with horror stories of Irish children abused in homes and industrial schools in the 1940s and 1950s. Last night, the series brought the story up to the present. It is easy to blame people for doing too little in the past to prevent such abuse taking place. But since that time, children have been abused in Trudder House in Co Wicklow, St Joseph's Residential Centre in Kilkenny and Madonna House in Dublin. Are we as ready to blame ourselves for not noticing what was happening in these cases, as we are to blame people in the distant past for their failures?
What this implies, for the future, is that preventing such abuse will depend, not so much on the eyes and ears of the public, as on the vigilance and effectiveness of those who have the job of assessing the standard of care being given to children in institutions.
This means that the Social Services Inspectorate, which is at last in the process of being set up, will have to be empowered and funded to conduct thorough inspections of childcare institutions at all times. It must also mean the creation of an office of Ombudsman for Children, on which the Government has been very slow to move and which did not form part of the package of measures announced by the Taoiseach yesterday. An Ombudsman for Children could take a complaint made by a child or - perhaps more importantly - on behalf of a child, and cut through the obstacles which institutions put up, almost by reflex, against those who threaten them.
The case of a single child could involve a health board, a school, a residential centre, foster parents and at least three Government departments. The ability of these institutions to deflect awkward complaints is just as strong as the walls of the industrial schools at Artane and Letterfrack ever were.
An Inspectorate could look at individual parts of the system and at whether they are working as well as they ought to be and could set new standards. But it is an Ombudsman for Children which could delve into every part of the system, seeking answers and making a report to the Dail in the event of barriers being put up.
Also important, if we are to learn from States of Fear and its revelations, are measures to protect children in foster care. Foster care is simply not amenable to the type of inspection process which would apply to residential care. For that reason, it is vital that the assessment and training of foster parents is standardised to a high level around the country - and that is a role for the Inspectorate.
It is also vital that social workers keep in close touch with children in foster care and that reviews of their cases are held regularly. The inspectorate has an important part to play in ensuring that systems are set up to make this happen.
All this will cost money, time and effort. But if we fail to spend these resources on a first class inspection system, and on an Ombudsman for Children, then all our expressions of horror over the revelations in States of Fear will be wasted breath.