The Government should introduce a 24-hour child protection service following the tragic drowning of a young mother and her two children, the ISPCC claimed today.
After a jury branded the failure of social services to improve their procedures following the death of Sharon Grace and her two children a disgrace, the child protection society called for immediate action.
The ISPCC said it was concerned about the lack of a comprehensive out-of-hours service and that a nationwide 24-hour child protection service should be set up.
An ISPCC spokeswoman said: "This tragic case is a clear example of the State's continuous failure to provide adequate child protection and welfare services to the most vulnerable children and their families in Ireland.
"It is unacceptable that the lead statutory agency responsible for the protection of children in this State remains a 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday operation.
"Most families do not fall into crisis conveniently within these times and are often in need of a service late in the evenings, during the night and at weekends."
Mrs Grace (28), from Barntown, Co Wexford, called to the reception of Ely Hospital just outside Wexford town seeking a social worker around 7.30pm on Saturday evening, April 16th, 2005.
She left with her two young daughters - Mikhala (4) and Abby (3) - after being told social workers worked from Monday to Friday and they had no emergency contact numbers for social services. The receptionist offered to phone the General Hospital to get a phone number but Mrs Grace declined.
Hours later four fishermen discovered their bodies floating alongside each other at the Kaat's Strand area of the River Slaney in Co Wexford.
A year and a half later, a receptionist at the hospital told yesterday's inquest there was still no list of emergency numbers for social services at the reception of Ely Hospital.
Mrs Grace's father, Eddie Reddy, said: "It is an absolute scandal that is what it is, social services should be ashamed of themselves 10 times over." He said nothing is being done at a time when suicide is claiming more lives than road crashes.