Efficient childcare system needed now

The report on childcare deaths is a deeply depressing document. As the Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald, put it, "what we have found, in one word, is a disgrace". In promising to do something about this, the government has made a string of commitments, many of them welcome.

However, what is needed above all is for the state's social services to be organised and run efficiently - for those who manage and staff ...