In 2012, a very harrowing report by the independent child death review group, which documented the deaths of 196 children in State care, deeply shocked many citizens. The report's conclusions were a serious indictment of child protection systems and maintained that the State had abdicated its duty in respect of some young people and failed to provide adequate child protection support. The Taoiseach will recall that key recommendations of the report included independent reviews into the deaths of ten children and for aftercare to be put on a statutory footing.

Three years later, only one of these recommendations has been implemented. The result is that some young people in State care are now being left without adequate support when they turn 18 and these young people are being exposed to exploitation and violence.

When the report of the independent child death review group was first published, the Taoiseach said it detailed a litany of shame. The then Minister for Children and Youth Affairs described it as harrowing and promised that an implementation plan would be developed, but it never was. Is the Government's failure over the course of three years to implement the findings of this most shocking report not an indictment of the Government's record in protecting the most vulnerable of our young citizens who are in the care of the State?

As the Deputy knows, the Government and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs have set up the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, which is very well funded. The Minister is acutely aware of the nature of the difficulties and challenges that face many children who are in difficult and vulnerable positions. Clearly, this is an issue that he has worked on, and he is making preparations in respect of the discussions that will take place prior to the budget in October. I accept that not all of the recommendations on the litany of issues that were raised in the report have been implemented. The Minister has prepared his report and, hopefully, the discussions he is to have in the period ahead will lead to some improvement in that situation, which I agree is not satisfactory.

As the Taoiseach said, Tusla was established to improve children's services. He said it was well funded, yet Tusla recently cut funding to Rape Crisis Network Ireland and women's centres and said that part of its problem was that it did not have the funding.

The Irish Times has a report today about a HIQA review of Tusla inspections last year, and I have read the executive summary of this review. HIQA found inconsistencies in the safety and quality of children's services and said that this caused major concern. It also found significant delays in assessing the needs of children and families where there were reports of suspected abuse or neglect. There was evidence that children at risk of harm did not have timely access to social workers or vital supports, and others who are dealing with children, including teachers, have told me they have the same difficulty in getting timely access to social workers or vital supports. The Taoiseach should read the report, or at least the executive summary. HIQA says it is concerned that management systems may not be adequate to provide consistently safe services. Some services cannot meet the needs of children with challenging behaviour and, as a result, HIQA is to commence a review of Tusla's governance arrangements in 2015, which I very much welcome.

The question is what the Government is doing. It has failed to implement key recommendations of the independent child death review in 2012, a point the Taoiseach did not respond to in his earlier reply. Now, HIQA is so concerned about governance arrangements in Tusla, the very body that was set up following the scandal of the deaths of so many young people in care, that it is to commence a review of these arrangements. Does this not call into question the Government's child service strategy, including the funding of services? Would the Taoiseach not recognise this as a crisis and explain how he proposes to deal with this crisis?

As the Deputy is aware, the independent child death review group was set up back in March 2010 following the deaths of two children. It made 25 recommendations and, obviously, it is the intention of Government to see that those are implemented.

When?

In the first instance, Tusla, the dedicated Child and Family Agency, has been established. It is chaired by one of the authors of the report, as the Deputy knows. Some key reforms that are being implemented as part of that work include the national service delivery framework and national policy guidelines across a range of areas such as welfare, protection and alternative care. They also include the development of the child protection notification system to secure the safety of children at risk from harm by improving communication and information sharing. There is much greater emphasis on early intervention and prevention, and work is being done through the roll-out of the Meitheal model, the prevention partnership and the family support programme, as well as a dedicated aftercare service to standardise the delivery of leaving and aftercare services. As promised, the Children First Bill has been published. It was recently strengthened and clarified in regard to some of the recommendations-----

It was watered down.

-----and it is currently before the Oireachtas being debated, as the Deputy is aware. A Bill to provide a statutory right to an aftercare plan is currently being drafted and will be published shortly. Since the publication of the review group's report, HIQA has continued its work in reviewing both fostering and child protection and welfare services, and is supporting the aim of continuously improving these. Finally, following the publication of the review group's report, the national panel process for the review of child deaths has been greatly strengthened. Guidance for the national panel review was revised and published last year. HIQA now has a very specific oversight role in auditing the independence of that panel, and the panel reports directly to the board of Tusla under the new arrangements. These are some of the areas of work that are currently under way following that.