Child Welfare Dropped From HSE

The Government has announced plans to remove child protection and welfare services from the responsibility of the Health Service Executive.

It plans to hold a referendum on children's rights and a new dedicated child protection agency will be set up.

The Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald, has said that the HSE had experienced major problems in providing child welfare services.

Fitzgerald commented: "Clearly there have been major problems; we have had report after report and indeed more reports to come that highlight the inadequacies in our childcare services. We believe that there should be a new way of delivering those services, and we need to have new criteria about transparency and the work that actually being done, about the outcomes, and to avoid having the sort of tragedies that we have had in the past."

Fitzgerald said she would look at the wording for the referendum proposed by the past government and that of another proposed by an all-party Oireachtas committee. She said she hoped it would be possible to get all-party agreement on the wording.

Ms Fitzgerald also expressed disappointment at the low number of women appointed to the Cabinet.

"I've been disappointed at the low numbers of women appointed to the cabinet. I won't be happy until there are 50%."

Labour's Joan Burton is the other woman in the Cabinet. She was appointed to the position of Minister for Social Protection - a move that has caused controversy as she had been expected to get one of the two posts in the ministry of finance.

(JG/GK)