Fine Gael Dun Laoghaire TD, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, has said the new Child and Family Agency, which was launched by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD, and the Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald TD today (Thursday), will help to ensure the failings of the past do not reoccur.

“The establishment of the new Child and Family Agency is a progressive step forward towards ensuring the protection, safety and rights of children. Our previously fragmented child protection services will be unified in this new single body, ensuring more cohesive and effective care.

“The Louise O’Keefe case is just the latest in a long legacy of failings of the State and its institutions. While we cannot presume it is possible to prevent every case of child abuse, we can ensure our systems are working better, intervening earlier and responding quicker to issues of concern as they arise.

“The new Agency will allow for the seamless integration of policy and service delivery, rather than the fragmented system of the past. Child protection services will be taken away from the overburdened health service, and for the first time education welfare and family support services will be brought together with child protection and welfare.

“The harsh reality is that child and family welfare was not treated as a priority in Ireland in the past. Now it will be the sole focus of a single Government agency. The establishment of the Child and Family Agency, together with a range of other legislative changes, means that child protection is something that we all have a responsibility for; it’s not something that we can simply devolve to professionals.

“Children and families in difficulty deserve a second chance. The new Agency will help to ensure that no child is overlooked, and will ensure we respond more quickly when families are in trouble, so a crisis can be avoided. For the first time, child and family social workers, family support workers and education welfare officers will all work together on the same team to protect children and support families. This will help prevent children from falling through gaps in services, as happened too many times in the past.

“The agency will be known as TUSLA, which comes from the Irish for new day, or new dawn. The name aptly reflects the new beginning this Agency represents. The establishment of the Agency is a huge undertaking; it will have over 4,000 staff and a budget of more than €600 million. Minister Fitzgerald deserves to be commended for her work in delivering this major reform in how we care for vulnerable children.”