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	We Will Never Allow This Terrible Abuse Happen Again Irish Independent June 1, 2009 http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/we-will-never-allow-this--terrible-abuse-happen-again-1757058.html Despite the heartfelt appeal of abuse survivor Michael O'Brien to avoid the politicisation of the abuse scandal, Alan Shatter cannot refrain from the most blatant political charges. To compare the systematic and endemic abuses of the past with our current child welfare and protection services is not just an insult to all who deliver social services but also a serious underestimation of the abuse catalogued in the Ryan report. There are gaps in our child protection systems and there is certainly room for improvement. However, the portrayal by Alan Shatter of today's services as a modern incarnation of the sexual abuse perpetrated by "care providers" of the past is a disgrace. The Cabinet, in accepting the full list of recommendations detailed in the Ryan report, has committed to a frank assessment of current child protection policies. I will report to Cabinet by the end of July with an action plan that will introduce the reforms, many of which are well under way, to give effect to those recommendations. The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse provides vivid accounts of the suffering endured by thousands of children placed in "care" by the State. I met social workers in Dublin last Monday night to listen to the challenges they face in carrying out their demanding jobs. They spoke with passion and feeling about the services they deliver on a daily basis. I visited residential care facilities for children in special care in recent weeks and once again found staff who were dedicated and professional. To even pose the question about the difference between the identities of sexual abusers being withheld by religious orders and the protection of care workers' individual rights speaks volumes about Mr Shatter's approach to child protection and the people who deliver those services. Who would be a social worker in a system presided over by Mr Shatter? Who would carry the burden of risk in making complex and life altering decisions? The end result of the approach advocated by Mr Shatter is an exponential increase in the number of children being placed in care. If the past teaches us anything, it is that children should only be taken into care as a last resort. We will be taking a very hard look at the resources necessary for the delivery of children's services in the context of the implementation plan. However, before any new resources are employed, it is important that we standardise practices and ensure uniformity in delivery of care. Once again, Mr Shatter has attempted to compare the publication of the redacted copy of the Monageer Report to the suppression of accounts of abuse in industrial schools and care settings. This is beyond contempt. He continues to peddle the myth that in redacting sections of the Monageer Report, the Government is deliberately protecting alleged failings of health professionals. As I wrote last week, my first priority was to bring as much of the report as was publishable to the attention of those delivering public services and to the public. Both the Health Minister and I have publicly stated that it is our wish to refer the Monageer report to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children. I believe this represents a genuine attempt to bring the facts into the public domain. Central to the implementation of the Ryan Commission's recommendations will be a robust inspection system for all children in care. While the current system is professional, transparent and covers the majority of residential services for children, there are some facilities in which children reside which are not subject to inspection, such as those housing unaccompanied minors and residential settings providing mental disability services. There is no high moral ground in this appalling chapter in Irish history. Successive governments, including ones in which Mr Shatter's party served, ignored the calls for truth and redress. It is a shameful legacy. The implementation plan, the responsibility for which I have been entrusted, will seek to ensure that such abuses will not be repeated.
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