The Government is to introduce new laws to ensure information on the deaths of children in State care can be shared between the HSE and Department of Health, the Taoiseach said today.
Amid claims that 200 children have died while in care in the last decade, the HSE said it had received legal advice warning it to withhold records over fears disclosure would breach court rules.
Brian Cowen said the legal issues could be addressed by a legislative amendment to allow for the sharing of files.
"These issues can be addressed we believe by providing a specific legal basis upon which this information should be shared between the Department of Health and the HSE. And we will bring forward that legislation," the Taoiseach said.
He said that a Bill would be approved by the Cabinet and brought into the House as soon as was practicable. "The Government is of the view that whatever legislative changes are needed to overcome any particular legal issues that arise will be dealt with as a matter of urgency."
The HSE welcomed the Taosieach's move and said it will co-operate with the State's inquiry into deaths of all children in care.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny asked Mr Cowen if he knew the exact number of children who had died in the State's care in the past 10 years.
Mr Kenny said there was a dysfunctional HSE and powerless ministers in the health and children's area. The ministers were unable to acquire information about children who may have died in the care of the State.
"It is truly astonishing that the Taoiseach of the country, himself a former minister for health, does not have this information accurately,'' he added. He accused the Department of Health and HSE of "hiding" behind process and reports.'
"I do not suggest that is something with which I am happy or the Government would be happy," Mr Cowen responded. "That is something one would have hoped would be available immediately, but that is not the case.''
Mr Cowen said the validation of numbers who died in care was currently underway and would be ready by the end of next month. A figure of 23 had been confirmed by the HSE, he added. Some reports have suggested the figure could be as high as 200.
Mr Cowen said he did not know where the figure of 200 had emerged from. People might be extrapolating on the basis of six deaths in the last quarter since January, and reaching a mathematical conclusion for
the past 10 years.
“I don’t know, personally, whether that is a fair presumption to make at all or not,’’ he added. “I think it is not that one that should be made."
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore claimed the State was negligent in its duty of care to vulnerable children. He told the Dáil that if any set of parents had acted as negligently as the State, moves would be made to take their children into care.
"What is to happen, or what does happen, children for whom the State does not provide the care that would be provided by parents?" asked Mr Gilmore.
The HSE yesterday admitted there were major flaws in the way information is collected about vulnerable children in care.
The admission came shortly after the HSE said it does not know how many young people have died while in State care. The latest child to die while in State care was 17-year-old Daniel McAnaspie, from Finglas, Dublin, whose stabbed body was found dumped in a drain on farmland in Co Meath earlier this month.
It also follows reports the HSE has failed to hand over files on the deaths of children in its care to an independent panel set up to review such deaths.
The HSE claimed it had legal advice that it could not hand over the files to panel members child-law expert Geoffrey Shannon and Norah Gibbons of Barnardos. They were asked in March by Minister for Children Barry Andrews to review HSE investigations into the deaths of children in care over the past decade but have yet to receive a single file.
Additional reporting: PA