Report on deaths of young people while in state care

A “harrowing” report on the deaths of young people in state care between 2000 and 2010 will be published on Wednesday.

The Cabinet has agreed to publish the report of the child death review group, chaired by child law expert Geoffrey Shannon and is expected to identify failings in child protection services.

It focuses on the deaths of 112 young people from unnatural causes, which range from suicide to drug abuse.

Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald told the Fine Gael Árd Fheis last March that the report was “harrowing and upsetting”.

It had been on her desk at that stage, but she was awaiting the advice of the Attorney General before publishing it. The minister did not want the report redacted in any way because she wanted the public to see its full contents. “I want people to see this report and I want them to read it. Because it shows what happens when society fails our children. It shows how abuse and neglect in the early years of a child’s life can be the beginning of a journey which is bleak, troubled, and short.”

The minister said the report shows “how crucial interventions missed can lead to childhoods destroyed and in some instances lives lost”.

The review group was set up in 2010 by former minister for children Barry Andrews after concern about the HSE’s inability to provide accurate figures on the number of deaths of children in its own care.

The report, “long and detailed”, is expected to be highly critical of record-keeping in the HSE and the lack of information in a number of tragic cases.