I absolutely agree with the Minister that the report that was released on the sexual exploitation of children in care in this country is deeply shocking and disturbing. However, this is not the first time this issue has been raised. It was first reported last year in The Irish Times and social workers in Tusla were aware of this since 2020. This is not something that has come to light today.

What has the Government done since it was first notified in 2020 that children who were the responsibility of the State and in the State’s care have been sexually exploited? What has the Government done to protect them? Will the Minister commit to an immediate HIQA investigation into these care facilities as requested by the authors of the report today?

Tusla has implemented its child-exploitation procedure in 2021 in partnership with An Garda Síochána which provides Tusla staff and carers with information on how to recognise indicators of child sexual exploitation, how to make appropriate referrals and how to respond to cases where children may be at risk of sexual exploitation. Tusla also developed a training e-learning module to support its staff to implement this procedure which almost 1,100 Tusla staff have completed. It has established an anti-trafficking working group in readiness for the Department of Justice national action plan for human trafficking which includes the area of child sexual exploitation. We have also recently jointly established with Tusla a working group to look at institutional and organisational abuse. This work is ongoing including reviewing criteria for the definition of such abuse and also reviewing further supports and guidance for staff around any potential indicators of child sexual exploitation in State care. A lot of work has been done and there will now be a focus on the outcome of this study.