Govt Commit To Recommendations In Roma Children Report

The Report of the Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the removal of two Roma children from their families was published on Tuesday by Minister for Justice & Equality Frances Fitzgerald.

In short, the Report finds that An Garda Síochána failed to critically evaluate the information provided to them about the children and families in question; and that more extensive and discrete inquiries should have been carried out by An Garda Síochána prior to calling on the family homes and removing the children.

The Minister said that the government has committed to "full implementation" of the reports recommendations.

"This Report gives a comprehensive picture of the events which led to An Garda Síochána taking the actions they did and makes some important recommendations which will guard against similar situations arising in the future," the Minister said.

Adding: "Every day Gardaí make hard decisions in real time. They don't always have a full and perfect set of facts to work on. Occasionally, they make the wrong call - and what the Report has found is a succession of errors in how Gardaí dealt with these issues: Gardaí, acting in what they thought were the best interest of the children concerned made a series of mistakes. With unintended consequences for two families.

"The Government and I accept the findings of the Report and its Recommendations in full. My Department has already begun working with the relevant agencies such as An Garda Síochána, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Child and Family Agency and the Department of Health to ensure their timely implementation. An implementation group will oversee the actions being rolled-out in response to the Report’s recommendations."

(MH/CD)