Change responsibility for those children ‘at risk’

CHILDREN “at risk” will never be properly protected so long as the responsibility remains with the Health Service Executive.

The HSE is principally concerned with individuals who are sick, and these children are not ill. If an organisation is given a secondary responsibility which is unrelated to its principal task, then it is usual to find that this secondary responsibility does not receive the attention which it requires.

There are also many departments potentially involved. For example, the Department of Education, Department of Children and Youth Affairs, Department of Social Protection, and the Department of Justice, to which must be added NGOs like Dr Barnardos and the churches.