Christmas can be hell for parents whose children are in State care. In the Gallery the Minister will see mothers and grandparents who have not seen their children in years. Tusla has blocked reunification every step of the way. Last week Jacinta Swan from Clarecare told the committee on children that parents describe the experience of having a child taken into care as something similar to a death in the family. The Chair of the committee, Deputy Funchion, told the meeting she has not seen a reunification of family and child in her time in Leinster House since 2009. In September 2019 the Taoiseach, who is the Minister's constituency colleague, questioned the Minister with responsibility for children on an extensive report of the Alliance of Birth Mothers Campaigning for Justice on what Tusla is doing to them. All requests from the alliance to meet the Taoiseach have been rebutted. He has refused to meet it. Will the Minister ask the Taoiseach to meet them before he leaves office. Do we have to wait for another generation for the State to acknowledge the damage being done by the State, by Tusla, the Garda Síochána and other agencies? Will the Taoiseach meet the alliance?

I thank Deputy McGrath. To be fair it might be more appropriate for the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to have that meeting. I will ask him to do so. I think the interests of the child are paramount. What we should be working towards is that there is reunification, particularly at Christmas when people deserve to spend time with their families, but on the proviso that what is paramount first and foremost is what is in the interests of the child. We have to respect the work that Tusla does. It is operationally independent. What we should work towards is that there is reunification and that parents get to spend time with their children at Christmas. I will ask the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to engage with the group the Deputy has referred to.