Vol. 492 No. 4
11 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Health and Children the facilities available in Garda stations to keep homeless young people after they have presented themselves for short-term accommodation under the terms of the Child Care Act, 1991; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11496/98]
66 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has satisfied himself that Garda stations are the appropriate location to keep homeless children looking for short-term accommodation under the terms of the Child Care Act, 1991. [11497/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 66 together.
The issue of homeless young people presenting themselves at Garda stations for short-term accommodation is a problem mainly in the Dublin city centre. Prior to the establishment of the out of hours service in 1992 the Eastern Health Board, which has responsibility for child care services in that area, reached agreement with the Garda at Assistant Commissioner level that young people could access social workers via a Garda station. This was considered to be a safe place for the young person and the social worker alike. No facility was sought or provided and young people are met by social workers at the reception area of Garda stations. In practice, a handful of Dublin city centre Garda stations receive most of the young people requesting a service during the out of hours period. There is a group of young people who present themselves on a recurring basis.
To relieve this position and to improve its crisis intervention service generally, the Eastern Health Board plans to open its own reception centre where young people can access the out of hours service. The new facility will be professionally staffed and will provide food, laundry, washing and toilet facilities in a comfortable and safe environment. It is planned that this service will open at a city centre location during 1998. In addition to this reception centre, the Eastern Health Board will also open an additional residential centre specifically for young people who currently call to Garda stations on a regular basis seeking accommodation through the out of hours service. The new residential centre, which will be on-stream in 1998, will care for young people who are often excluded from other services because of their behaviour or active drug use.
In the Mid-Western Health Board area homeless young people who do not wish to avail of the services offered to them by the health board are advised that if they feel unsafe or get into difficulties they can go to a Garda station. In such case the Garda are notified by the health board of the services available. If a young person who has not been in contact with the health board comes to the notice of the Garda out of hours, the Garda will contact the child care emergency residential facilities.
I note from the Minister's reply developments are under way in terms of services provided by the Eastern Health Board. The one area of service provision which is falling behind in terms of homeless children is education — this matter was raised during questions to the Minister of State, Deputy Flood. There is no safety net in place. Will the Minister accept that school truancy should be his responsibility? With better co-ordination of services to identify children who drop out of school at an early stage and a follow through by social work services, the number of children presenting themselves at Garda stations would be much reduced.
In my capacity as Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, I have responsibility for truancy and absence from school. I agree this is one of the contributing factors towards homelessness, but it is only one of a number of complex reasons for homelessness. Others include dysfunctional families, abuse or neglect in the home, the absence of a proper support and welfare service and proper support in ensuring children go to school. Those problems are being tackled in a variety of ways. We are involved in a series of initiatives to get to grips with homelessness and dysfunction in families where children find it necessary to leave home. Initiatives will be announced in a series of areas in the coming months. The Government, through the Cabinet Sub-committee on Social Inclusion and Drugs, is determined to get to grips with difficulties facing families, particularly in working class areas, which lead to the inevitability of children becoming homeless.
Will the Minister accept that pilot schemes are not sufficient to deal with child homelessness? What is needed is a proper educational service in areas of disadvantage to reduce class sizes and ensure additional supports are available in schools. There has been no expansion of the disadvantaged scheme, Breaking the Cycle scheme or the early start programme. Will the Minister agree education spending must be targeted in areas of severe disadvantage? What initiatives has he taken to tackle the problem of truancy? There has been no evidence in the past year that anything is being done about those problems.
I agree the need for additional education expenditure on the programmes to which the Deputy referred is necessary and desirable. The Minister for Education and Science is seeking more resources for that area, but the problem is a little more complex than that. One of the major difficulties is to get young people to attend school. Significant additional resources must be made available for parenting and pre-school programmes to ensure children go to school. The major problem in terms of school truancy relates to the family background. Extra resources have been made available to health boards and they are engaged in initiatives in this regard.
I dispute the point about pilot projects. Up to now there has been no proper co-ordination between Departments in tackling this issue. It has been decided to set up a number of pilot projects. Next Monday the Taoiseach will launch a national scheme in this area. I spent this morning in west Tallaght where I saw some of the difficulties experienced and some of the work being done. There is no doubt the only way forward is by preventative strategies and intervention at an early stage to protect children and give them the support they do not get from their families.
