Colin Murphy: Promises are made, but children are still left in harm’s way

Seven years on from Ryan Report, vulnerable children are still being failed by state

Ireland, once intended to be ‘a model of how to treat children’, has dropped her standards

Last week’s revelations about failings in the care system come on the cusp of the seventh anniversary, next month, of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

The Ryan Report, as it became known, was “one of the most important reports, and almost certainly the gravest, ever published in the history of the state”, the then taoiseach, Brian Cowen said.

The government quickly accepted all of Ryan’s recommendations. Enda Kenny, ...