Child care a duty, not a passing whim

THERE can hardly be a country in the world better placed than this one to understand the need, the absolute obligation, to have robust and effective child protection services and policies in place.

Our history, and the recent and harrowing uncovering of that history, can leave this society in no doubt about what it must do to protect children from the twin horrors of neglect and abuse.

Yesterday’s report that gardaí in north Dublin have told Hiqa that investigations of allegations of physical abuse of children have been impeded by considerable delays on the part of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, in informing them fully about the allegations, suggests that we still regard child protection as optional, as something we might do when we get around to it.

The report suggests one more time that we cry crocodile tears on the issue and have learnt little or nothing from the scandals of recent decades.

The report highlights the grave shortage of social workers to deal with this issue and the capacity of social services to deal with people from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. These are resource issues, yet the entire focus around how we might use tax revenues generated by a recovering economy is on “pay restoration” and measures that might win votes. What hypocrisy. Child care is not an option and it must be prioritised, even if that means long-fingering other issues.