Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, has said that there is a need to establish why two children living in the Tallaght were taken from their families. Crowe said that he believed that protocol and priorities need to be established where the protection of the child is central and lessons need to be learned for this incident.

The Tallaght based Deputy said that regardless of this unusual and disturbing incident it is vital that we encourage communities and individuals to report irregularities and concerns they have regarding any vulnerable children. Crowe said it is surely better to report any concern then allow a possible awful tragedy to occur.

Deputy Sean Crowe said

“Against a backdrop of scandalous newspaper coverage, children were taken from their homes in what appear to be clear case of people leaping to conclusions.

“Under the Childcare Act the Gardaí must have reasonable grounds for believing there is ‘an immediate and serious risk to the child.’

“On the basis of the sketchy information in the public domain this does not appear to be the case.

“Indeed if such a risk did exist surely all of the children would have been removed from these families, not just those with blond hair and blue eyes.

“The concern in many quarters is around the apparent speed of the intervention in this particular case and it appears to be in marked contrast to many other cases where concerns were expressed.

“Last week the Children’s Ombudsman revealed that the HSE had failed to intervene over several years after a child made multiple allegations of rape. Will we ever hear of what went wrong with the system in this particular case.?

“Another report revealed that 4,100 children who were assessed by the HSE as needing intervention and had to wait more than three months for intervention.

“One child was left waiting for more than a year before having a social worker allocated.

“What lessons can be learned from these cases? What are we doing wrong and how can we make sure this doesn’t happen again?

“ New protocols and priorities needs to be established where the protection and safety of the child is central and lessons need to be learned from this particular Tallaght based incident.

“Taking a cogent analysis of this unusual and disturbing incident, we as a society need to encourage communities to report irregularities and concerns they have regarding any vulnerable child.

“Surely it is better to report a concern than allow a possible tragedy to occur under your very nose. That in my opinion would be the added tragedy of this case.

“New protocols and systems need to be introduced to make sure children and their safety are kept at the front of our consciousness and priorities.

“I encourage everyone who may be in any doubt regarding a the safety and welfare of a child or any children in their area to contact the relevant authorities immediately.”

ENDS