Vol. 567 No. 3
151 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Health and Children the general measures the Government intends to put into place to implement the recommendations in the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of DG v. Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14115/03]
I assume the Deputy is referring to the provision of appropriate services for non-offending children in need of special care or protection which the DG case centred on. Since 1997, additional revenue funding of approximately €178 million has been invested through the health boards in the development of child welfare and protection services. This includes an additional €8 million for 2003. This has provided for a wide range of developments, including family support projects, preventive services and intensive community-based services. About €40 million in capital funding has been made available by the Government through the health boards to put in place additional high support and special care places to provide for a small group of non-offending children who need more intensive intervention than mainstream residential or foster care services. The number of high support and special care places has increased from 17 in 1996 to more than 120. This includes an additional five-place special care unit for boys which has been completed and is due to come on stream on a phased basis in the Mid-Western Health Board later this year.
While health boards have experienced some difficulty in recruiting and retaining suitably trained staff for these services, progress has been made in this area through recruitment abroad and the expansion of training courses. As I am sure the Deputy is aware, a new career and pay structure for child care workers was introduced in 2001. This aims to ensure that more people are attracted into child care and that child care workers are trained to an appropriate level. From time to time, health boards have also put in place individual high support packages to meet the specific needs of children. Many intensive community-based services, such as the youth advocacy pilot projects in the Northern Area Health Board and the Western Health Board which commenced last year, have also been put in place to provide for the needs of this group of children.
