Adequate child safeguards in place-Harney

Tánaiste Mary Harney insisted that adequate safeguards were in place to prevent people released under the Supreme Court statutory rape judgment working with children.

"There is a Garda vetting unit which has been greatly strengthened. There is no question of anybody who may be released under these circumstances being able to work with children."

Ms Harney was replying to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who said that if one of them applied for a position dealing with children there was no information available to the Garda to comment on their character or personality or the appalling acts they had carried out.

Ms Harney said much would depend on the outcome of today's Supreme Court case relating to Mr A. One complaint she received as Minister for Health related to the delay it could talke to clear a person to work with children. "As late as this week, a deputy approached me in respect of a delay in trying to approve persons to work with children."

There was a need to strengthen the vetting process further, and she had asked the HSE to communicate with the Department of Justice, the Irish Prison Service and others to ensure counselling services were available to victims and their families.

Insisting that the Government had done much for children, she said it had appointed the first Ombudsman for Children. "Comprehensive legislation in child welfare has been introduced."

Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) said a matter outraging decent people around the country was the sight of adult men who abused children walking free or about to walk free from prison.

The Minister for Justice had outlined a range of other legislation which still stood and was not unconstitutional. "Is the Tánaiste giving an undertaking that those adult men, if released under the Supreme Court judgment, will be charged under the existing and valid legislation?"

He said the Government could not simply repeat in 2006 legislation drafted for conditions in 1935, and the Government needed an immediate dialogue with young people and with their parents so an entire section of young, whose mores were different from those in 1935, were not criminalised willy-nilly by legislation now being prepared.

That was in no way to dilute the urgency of protecting children and young people from predatory adults, he added.

Ms Harney said she agreed there must be appropriate legislation.

Dr Jerry Cowley (Independent, Mayo) said the terrible state of the health services was caught up in the issue. In Mayo, people must wait two years for a child psychiatrist.