Task force charged with reforming child protection

A STATE group tasked with overseeing child protection in Ireland has been set up — a year after former HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm said the health service should not have responsibility for the sector.

The task force on the Child and Family Support Agency was announced by Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald yesterday.

She said the group — which will include representatives from Barnardos, the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, academics and health service officials — has been established as part of pre-general election Government commitments.

“[This will] fundamentally reform the delivery of child protection services by removing child welfare and protection from the HSE... reforming the model of service delivery and improving accountability in the Dáil,” she said.

The group is similar to what Prof Drumm said should be introduced during a June 2010 interview with the Irish Examiner, when he said the system would run more smoothly “if areas like childcare were elsewhere”.

At the time, he said services for children in care were a “very, very high risk area to manage”, adding that “the more high risk issues you expose, the more the organisation is subject to criticism”.

Ms Fitzgerald said the agency is currently finalising a detailed work programme, including the possibility of new legislation which she said the minister said should be “advanced as quickly as possible”.

The group will be chaired by Maureen Lynott, former chairwoman of the Children First National Guidelines.