Vol. 441 No. 3
9 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Health the plans, if any, he has to make it possible for orphaned and homeless young people between the ages of 16 and 18 years, who need an independent income to be catered for through the provisions of the Child Care Act, 1991; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
There is no provision in the Child Care Act, 1991, which would empower me to establish a scheme for the payment of allowances to young people in the 16 to 18 year age group in the circumstances mentioned by the Deputy. As the House is aware, primary responsibility for income maintenance rests with my colleague, the Minister for Social Welfare, and the Deputy may wish to pursue this matter in that context.
It is ironic that this question was transferred from the Minister for Social Welfare to the Minister for Health, which indicates the point of the question. Nobody seems to take responsibility for young people between 16 and 18 years. Traditionally health boards have been responsible for them in that they allocate money for B & B for homeless people. Would the Minister agree that, given the increasing incidence of homelessness, particularly in Dublin — in the first half of last year 280 children were reported by the Eastern Health Board to be homeless — this erratic system is not suitable and does not meet the need of these young children who have no income as they are not entitled to the dole? Many of these people are wandering around the streets, some of them engaged in prostitution. This is a serious social matter for which some Minister must take responsibility.
I was not aware this question was transferred from the Minister for Social Welfare. I suspect the reason is that the Deputy did not ask it in the right way. It refers to the Child Care Act, 1991, which is the responsibility of the Minister for Health.
I do not agree that the system of providing B & B is erratic. If power was given under the Child Care Act to provide maintenance for these unfortunate people the system would be even more erratic and unco-ordinated. I do not wish to get into the area of social welfare but Deputy O'Donnell will be aware that an orphan's allowance scheme is available from the Department of Social Welfare in cases where one parent is dead and the other has abandoned the child — it may be contributory or non-contributory. Unfortunately, this allowance has to be applied for by the Garda, which might not always be suitable in these cases. This is a matter for the Government in the context of discussion of the Estimates, but if a decision is made on the matter the most logical thing to do would be to pay the allowance through the Department of Social Welfare as an extension of the orphan's allowance scheme — that is simply a personal view.
On the B & B system, there is a responsibility on health boards, which are funded by the Department of Health, to provide accommodation, not income. In recent years the number of emergency accommodation places for homeless children, particularly in Dublin where the problem largely arises, has been substantially increased. Health boards and relevant agencies must have recourse to the B & B option when young people are unwilling to go into a hostel. The choice is simple; either insist on these people going into a hostel for the night, knowing that they will not do so, or leave them on the streets. We have informed the health boards that we want to reduce the incidence of young people availing of the B & B option and we are moving in that direction.
Funding for homeless people has been substantially increased and there are 100 places as compared to fewer than 20 a couple of years ago. The Minister received £15 million this year from the Government towards the implementation of the Child Care Act, £5 million of which relates to initiatives taken in 1993. I anticipate that a substantial increase will be made in the number of emergency accommodation places in 1994. The provision of places is a matter for the Eastern Health Board and they will be funded by the Department of Health. Discussions are taking place as to the improvement to be made in 1994 to build on the substantial advances of recent years.
I am glad the Minister is aware of the problem, particularly in the Dublin area. Would he agree that it is not simply a matter of income and accommodation but of caring for these children? The Minister for Health must take more responsibility in this area. Would he agree that the present system makes a nonsense of the structures and supports in the Child Care Act as they relate to this category of children?
I do not agree it makes a nonsense of the Child Care Act. That Act is innovative and enlightened legislation the provisions of which will be implemented over a number of years.
I agree.
The Minister has fought a great battle at Cabinet for funding and the Child Care Act will be implemented in full within a shorter space of time than I thought was possible. Section 5 of that Act states that the provision of accommodation is primarily the responsibility of the health boards. The more funding we get from Government, the better will be the system of emergency accommodation and care — the Child Care Act is about much more than accommodation — and the quicker we will implement the legislation.
Is the Minister aware that the figures given by the Minister for Health of new bed places for young homeless people were challenged by organisations working with homeless people? They maintain that rather than 30 new beds being provided, only 14 were provided, seven fewer than the number available two years ago. Will the Minister comment on that matter? Will he also comment on the out-of-hours service for homeless young people? I had cause to use this service on Good Friday. In mid-afternoon on that day when I telephoned the emergency number I was told by way of answering machine to telephone another number to which I got no reply. I had to send a young man with very small children to the Garda station — I am sure it is of interest to the Minister for Justice that the problem is being transferred to the Garda when all else fails.
In my area where there are homeless young people, ad hoc arrangements are made by ordinary people who, out of concern and kindness, take these young people into their homes. When people go to the health board for assistance towards keeping young adolescents in their homes they are told there is no structured arrangement whereby the health board can support ad hoc fostering of the older adolescent. That is a very easy and low cost way of keeping these children out of trouble and prostitution. Why is the health board not capable of providing such support?
On the challenge to the figures given by the Minister for Health, those figures are correct. On the out-of-hours service, I agree with Deputy McManus that the service is not perfect but it is being improved as quickly as resources allow — a couple of years ago there was no such service. On the funding of health boards for fostering children, that is a good idea, but I could come up with a million ideas on which money could be spent. The money available is spent in the most equitable and efficient manner and there is no provision for fostering these children at present. However, the suggestion will be put to the Minister for Finance when discussing next year's Estimates.
