THE GOVERNMENT has been criticised for failing to introduce a national out-of-hours social work service to help respond to emergency child protection cases.
A report into the deaths of a young family of four in Co Wexford in 2007, which was published yesterday, criticised the absence of a comprehensive service to deal with emergency cases outside of office hours. Opposition parties and child welfare groups blamed the Government for this situation.
The edited report, published by Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews, points to a number of failures by social services and gardaí to adequately address concerns around the family in the days leading up to their deaths. However, the report also says that even if gardaí or social services had called to the Dunne family home during the weekend they died, it is unlikely the tragedy could have been averted.
Adrian (29) and Ciara Dunne (24) were found dead, along with their children Leanne (5) and Shania (3), at their home in Monageer in April 2007. The family came to the attention of gardaí and social workers shortly before their deaths after the family made funeral arrangements for the couple and their two children.
The report says Mr Dunne took his own life, while his wife was strangled and the children died of asphyxia.
It says Mr Dunne was the “driving force” behind the planning and execution of the deaths of Ciara Dunne and their two children, and there was no third-party involvement.
The inquiry failed to find any single definite motive behind their deaths, although it did point to potential factors such as the suicide of Mr Dunne’s brother a month before the Monageer tragedy and the family’s mounting financial problems.
In its conclusions, the inquiry team found that the State’s failure to provide an out-of-hours social work service to ensure a response to all serious child protection and welfare concerns was a “fundamental problem”.
It pointed to “disjointed” communication within the Health Service Executive, which would have helped identify the family as being in need of support at an earlier stage.
The report says gardaí should have considered contacting Mr Dunne’s family to advise them of his visit to an undertaker before the deaths. But it also says it was unlikely the tragedy could have been averted, given Adrian and Ciara Dunne’s capacity to provide a plausible explanation for their “bizarre” funeral plans.
It makes a total of 26 recommendations, including the introduction of a national out-of-hours social work service and better co-operation between agencies.
However, seven of the recommendations, as well as large sections of the report, were blacked out. Mr Andrews said this was done for legal reasons, as the inquiry was non-statutory.
Publishing the report yesterday, the Minister said a new emergency foster care system to be introduced next month would form the “building blocks” of an out-of-hours response. A €15 million plan to establish a comprehensive out-of-hours service had been dropped last year as it was not the “best use of funding”.
Opposition parties and child welfare groups criticised the new plans, saying they did not amount to a proper out-of-hours social work service.
Fine Gael’s Paul Kehoe TD said said the plans would do nothing to address the shortcomings in social services outside office hours.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said he accepted the report’s findings, and he was committed to ensuring the safety and protection of children.
