MINISTER OF State for Children and Youth Affairs Barry Andrews met leading UK child protection expert Lord Laming on a visit to London yesterday, where he also met former residents of institutions investigated by the Ryan commission.
Mr Andrews was acting on a request by the Taoiseach that he draft an implementation plan to give effect to the 20 recommendations of the Ryan report by the end of this month.
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse chaired by Mr Justice Seán Ryan, whose report was published in May, detailed physical and sexual violence against more than 1,000 children in 216 institutions.
Lord Laming came to public attention recently following his report on the “Baby P” tragedy in London.
He has spent a lifetime working in child protection, as a frontline practitioner and more recently as a policy expert.
The Minister said he wanted to meet Lord Laming “as I was struck by the similarities in terms of challenges for social services for children in care in both jurisdictions.
“He outlined a number of experiences that will inform my consideration of the Ryan report. In particular, he stressed the need to follow up inspection services with implementation and to intervene at the earliest possible opportunity with families in crisis.”
Following the meeting in the House of Lords, Mr Andrews went to Islington and Camden where he met victims of institutional abuse, as well as care providers, at Irish centres in both boroughs.
He said the meetings gave him “the opportunity to listen at first hand to the unique experience of those who left the country.
“I heard raw accounts of survivors’ experience in care and life after care. Those who attended the meeting spoke of their difficulties in forming and keeping relationships.
“They were concerned that outreach services would continue to provide them appropriately into the future.”
