Shatter: ‘Baby P’ case will be repeated here due to poor standards

THE tragic death of Baby P in England will be repeated here because of the poor standards of protection for children at risk, Fine Gael has warned.

Young people in the Munster area are at far greater risk than those in Dublin and the east coast, according Fine Gael spokesperson on children, Alan Shatter.

At his party’s national conference in Wexford at the weekend, Mr Shatter said he was optimistic that the proposed child protection referendum will take place next year. But he said the poor policies of Fianna Fáil might encourage people to vote against it.

“There is a terrible hypocrisy in a Government advocating constitutional change to protect the welfare of children yet targeting 12-year-old girls by cancelling a cervical cancer vaccine,” he said.

“There is a terrible hypocrisy in a Government advocating constitutional change to protect the welfare of children yet cancelling the only existing sex offenders treatment programme in our prisons and happily presiding over a prison service which releases paedophiles back into the community unmonitored.”

A report published by the Health Service Executive (HSE) last month found just 41% of reported cases of children at risk resulted in an “initial assessment” in the HSE South area. This compared to 87% of cases in the Dublin mid-Leinster area.

Mr Shatter said: “Children in the Munster area are at far greater risk of death, physical injury or sexual abuse.”

He also criticised the poor rate of compliance with the Children’s First guidelines, something the Ombudsman for Children said last week she would be investigating.

“While the Ombudsman’s investigation may bring some additional transparency and accountability to our child protection services, it is essential the Government does not use this investigation as an excuse to do nothing until it is complete.

“Last week we learned of the tragic death of Baby P in England. It emerged that Government ministers had been forewarned about failing child protection procedures and standards in the Haringey Council six months before Baby P died. and had done nothing. There is a terrible inevitability that a child here will suffer a similar fate,” he said.

Mr Shatter said the Office of the Minister for Children, set up in 2005 has failed in its task of bringing coherence to policy making and services for young people.