Vol. 899 No. 1
6. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if, in the context of the €676 million in funding for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, for 2016, which is a welcome and significant increase, he has received a business plan from the agency; and if the Houses of the Oireachtas will have an opportunity to examine the intended spending arrangements. [42645/15]
This question asks, in the context of the welcome €676 million in funding for Tusla, whether the Minister has received a business plan from the agency and if the Houses of the Oireachtas will have an opportunity to examine the intended spending commitments.
I am pleased to be able to inform the House that significant extra resources have been allocated to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, for 2016. The gross funding allocation for Tusla in 2016 is €676 million, representing an increase of €38 million over the 2015 allocation. This includes €662.4 million in current expenditure and €13.6 million in capital expenditure.
The overall level of funding that I have provided will significantly strengthen Tusla's base funding level and will give the agency greater capacity to respond to current risk and anticipated demand.
This level of provision addresses key priorities identified by Tusla in pre-budget discussions. It will also give rise to a substantial recruitment programme involving up to 400 additional staff in the agency next year. This increased capital provision will allow for a range of key projects to be initiated and progressed.
In accordance with the agency's establishing legislation, I have issued a detailed performance statement to inform the preparation of Tusla's business plan for 2016. This statement sets out the key priorities that I require of Tusla in the coming year. I have since met the board following receipt and initial consideration by Tusla of the 2016 performance statement. In accordance with the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, Tusla is required to submit a business plan for 2016 within 30 days of receipt of the performance statement, which issued on 20 November last.
I will be happy to discuss the content of the performance statement and business plan at my next appearance at the relevant Oireachtas committee.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht an fhreagra sin agus as ucht an ardaithe mhóir de €38 milliún sa bhuiséad do Tusla don bhliain seo chugainn, agus cuirim fáilte roimh sin. I certainly welcome the increase in funding of €38 million for Tusla this year. I commend the Minister for that and for bringing the figure up to €676 million. I also welcome the €19 million provided by Tusla to the organisations which carry out vital work in relation to physical and sexual abuse, €4 million of which is for the Rape Crisis Centre. In a recent reply to a question, the Minister stated that future planning for domestic violence and sexual violence services will seek to address gaps and avoid duplication. I suppose my concerns relate to the level of consultation and engagement that is taking place, hopefully, between Tusla and the organisations. It is particularly important to avoid the problems which arose when Tusla decided to change the system of collecting statistics and information, which is clearly vital for delivering and designing such schemes. This decision impacted on the Galway Rape Crisis Network, which was previously undertaking this work.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. Caithfidh mé a rá go mbeidh airgead eile againn níos déanaí. Beidh Meastachán Forlíontach ann freisin agus beidh a fhíos agam cé mhéad a bheas i gceist níos déanaí inniu nó b'fhéidir amárach. I am happy that we have additional moneys to address any legacy issues and I will know the precise figure later today or early tomorrow.
As the Deputy will be aware, there are many areas that need to be addressed. One of the big areas has been the issue of unallocated cases. Tusla undertook an audit to get accurate figures on this because they were being measured in different ways in different parts of the country.
It has done a very good job in that regard and I compliment it. I asked it to submit a business plan to address the issue, which has been ongoing for decades. It gave me a three-year plan, which it also priced. We have given it the moneys in full to address the issue in the coming year. Three years of additional moneys will have to be in place in order to address the issue.
The Minister touched on the second free preschool year in earlier questions. What level of consultation and communication is there between the stakeholders, including the child care providers, on this year? Others touched on concerns regarding capacity. What level of engagement has been or is planned to be undertaken?
My Department is in regular contact with the providers' organisation on this matter. There was considerable consultation before the plan was executed and announced. It is an ongoing and dynamic situation. People and providers will decide where they would like to set up. Others may decide to expand. We live in a market economy and competition laws apply. We would like to support those who are already engaged in providing these services expand but, equally, we will encourage new people to enter the market where services are not currently being provided. We also must bear in mind that there will be other opportunities as a result of the increased provision for the community child care subvention programme. There will also be opportunities perhaps to use school facilities after school hours because teachers will not be providing the care. It will be provided by preschool child care givers who have a specific set of skills. We want to make it clear in those settings that the child does not think he or she is still at school. It needs to be a very different experience.
7. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the supports Tusla has in place for children and parents living in emergency accommodation; if specific supports are needed given the extraordinarily difficult circumstances children in emergency accommodation face in trying to attend school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42687/15]
My question relates to children who are living in emergency accommodation and the need to acknowledge that it is difficult for them. What is Tusla, in particular, doing to support these children?
I understand the Deputy is referring to situations where children and their families find themselves living in emergency accommodation. The primary need is for a family home and responsibility for this lies with local authorities and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. I appreciate, however, that the Deputy is referring to the emotional and practical impact on parents and children when living in emergency accommodation. A major stress for families is the uncertainty of not knowing when they will have suitable accommodation. Families also face difficulties in establishing the ordinary routines around meals, play and bedtimes that underpin normal development and a happy family life. I am keenly aware of the impact on children where their parent is suffering from stress, depression or other emotional problems associated with the traumatic impact of living in emergency accommodation. Homelessness can only have a negative impact on a child's personal growth, security and education.
An essential consideration for school-going children is, where possible, to source emergency accommodation that allows regular school attendance. Research has shown that attending at school can provide a haven of normality for children where there is significant change or crisis occurring in the family. The main role of Tusla is to provide family support, the same way as it does for families in the general community, by providing guidance and parenting supports through its locally based services. After school programmes, children's activities and homework clubs are a very practical way of supporting children. Where Tusla identifies underlying problems, for example, mental health issues, it can refer the family to the appropriate services. Tusla has regular meetings with Focus Ireland, the Department of Social Protection and Dublin City Council to identify vulnerable families in order to support them as best it can. Any concerns that reach the threshold requiring a child protection and welfare response will be dealt with through the child protection social work teams in Tusla.
We are storing up incredible problems for services in the future as a result of the impact of living in these situations on children. It goes against everything stated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We are supposed to put the best interests of the child first and do everything we can for the well-being of the child. I know about these children from the families I meet and calls made to my office. I also know about them from friends who teach these children. I want to mention two examples. One concerns a mother and child who are in emergency accommodation since last January. They still have no key worker. Fortunately, I was able to put them in touch with the Family Resource Centre, which is providing support, but its budgets have been cut. The other example concerns a single parent and her children who were in emergency accommodation in Portmarnock but were moved to Donabate. The children go to school in Baldoyle. That is the reality and the Minister knows it as well as I do. We know the difficulties this is causing. We know the effect on children's mental, physical and emotional well-being. We know it affects their attendance at school. If they are not at school, they are not learning. We are creating problems and children will leave school early as a result. Extra supports are needed for these children.
I am acutely aware that homelessness is very disruptive to normal family life and it is a major issue that this Government is intent on tackling. My colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, with the local authorities, is working hard to address this problem. We have a social policy Cabinet committee which meets regularly and this item is invariably on the agenda. I attend those meetings because I am concerned about children and the impact this has on them.
I agree fully with the Deputy. The example she describes is a classic example of the disruption caused. It is all very well to say accommodation is available. However, it is one thing for a child living in Portmarnock to make the journey to attend school in Baldoyle but to travel from Donabate is another thing entirely. I consider this issue to be a very serious one and central to it are the efforts to end the need to use emergency accommodation. I have always been a strong believer in prevention being better than cure. I assure the Deputy that I am acutely aware of the problems this is creating for families and the negative impact it is having on children. As are many of my Cabinet colleagues, I am working towards getting this problem sorted because we are, as Deputy O'Sullivan quite rightly states, storing up trouble for the future.
We know that the children living in these situations are very much at risk of a lot of issues later in their lives. We know the importance of early intervention when it comes to the mental health and physical well-being of these children. The Minister mentioned priorities and the extra funding his Department has received in his answer to Deputy Kyne. Will the Minister look at these particular needs as an example of early intervention? There are really serious delays in providing key workers for those in emergency accommodation. This is fuelling inequality because these are children of parents who have lost their jobs and homes. The parents are dealing with so much in their own lives and are also trying to provide support for their children. I ask that they would be a priority in terms of access to key workers and social workers. The Minister spoke of 400 extra social workers. This is an area that needs prioritising.
For clarity, it is not 400 extra social workers that will be provided but 400 additional staff, the bulk of whom will be social workers. One of the problems experienced is that social workers, because they did not have any administrative support, spent a lot of their time typing up reports that others could be typing while they are engaging with the families with whom they need and want to engage. Tusla continues to respond to family support needs, either directly or through commissioned services that can provide support to parents and children who find themselves in this difficult situation. Tusla is aware that children in emergency accommodation who are being moved are at risk and this is pertinent to its monitoring of the situation. I hear Deputy O'Sullivan loud and clear. I am concerned, as is Government, but I am particularly concerned given the impact on children. I want the best outcomes for our children. Having put in place all these additional services and additional funding and the Child and Family Agency, which has also received additional funding, it would be counter-productive not to have this problem addressed in as speedy a manner as possible. The Government is very much occupied by this issue.
I call Deputy Clare Daly. We are now behind time.
8. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will reconsider the one year lead-in time included in the heads of Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill, given that further delay for an ageing community of adoptees and natural mothers may result in missed opportunities for reunions. [42499/15]
This question relates to the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill which, thankfully, we are on the verge of concluding. In framing the question, it is fair to say that the Minister has delivered this Bill in a manner which the adoption community broadly believes was very consultative and participatory. However, the one area that remains problematic and about which I wish to make a last ditch plea in order to make what is a good Bill even better, is the issue of the one year lead-in time. I ask the Minister to reconsider that provision.
I thank Deputy Daly for her question. Efforts have been ongoing for many years to provide a statutory entitlement to information to persons separated as a result of an adoption. In this regard, the Government approved the publication of the heads and general scheme of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2015 in July. The Bill is intended to facilitate access to adoption information and operates on the basis of a presumption in favour of disclosing information in so far as is legally and constitutionally possible. The Bill will, for the first time, provide a statutory basis for the provision of information related to both past and future adoptions. It will provide clarity around the information that can be provided and the circumstances in which it can be provided.
I referred the Bill to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children for pre-legislative scrutiny. The committee published its report last week and my officials are currently examining the recommendations of the report. I note that one of the key recommendations relates to the length of time being provided for the operation of an information and awareness campaign. The awareness campaign will be a high-level campaign to publicise the provisions of the new legislation, outlining what information can be provided to adopted people and birth parents and the circumstances in which it can be provided. It is part of a suite of measures that the Bill provides in order to ensure the balancing of parental privacy with an adopted person’s right to information. I would point out that during the period when the campaign is under way the information required to apply for a birth certificate will be provided to an adopted person where a birth parent consents or where a birth parent is deceased. In this regard, the campaign will not impact on the sharing of information and-or contact between birth parents and adoptees, where there is agreement by both parties.
I am aware that there is a level of dissatisfaction around some of the requirements of the proposed scheme. However, as the Deputy will appreciate, for the Bill to be legally sound it must include safeguards to protect the constitutional rights of parents to privacy and adopted persons to their identity. I believe that the safeguards proposed in this Bill, including the awareness campaign, statutory declaration, the offer of support and guidance and the possibility of an appeal to court provide sufficient protection of birth parents' constitutional right to privacy and balance the right to identity information with protection of privacy. Any amendment to the Bill must be considered in this context.
I appreciate that the Minister was pulled in different directions on this and that he was constrained by legal and constitutional issues. However, I have a general problem with the advice of the Attorney General not being published. If there is a constitutional impediment it should be addressed if we are to put the right of children to their identity first. This is another argument in favour of changing the Constitution but that said, I acknowledge the good elements of the Bill and am aware that most people in the adoption community believe that the Minister's handling of this legislation has been very positive. The key outstanding issue is the age profile of the people involved. Half of those who were adopted since 1922 have passed away. Given that their natural mothers are considerably older, at least by 20 years, a delay of a year will mean that hundreds of potential reunifications will be lost. I ask the Minister to consider reducing the period to between 30 and 60 days and to conduct a much more intensive information campaign. He should refocus the resources that were to be spent over the course of a year and hone them into a shorter period so we can facilitate people achieving a connection that many of them have long sought.
I am aware that the age profile of many of those involved means that time is of the essence from their point of view. I certainly do not want any undue or unnecessary delay and this is one of the areas that we are examining very closely. We must have regard to legal advice. I know that creates problems from Deputy Daly's point of view but the law is there for a good reason, in fairness. I am actively looking at this issue and will endeavour to do everything I can to reduce the lead-in period, while also making sure that it is sufficiently long so as not to create a problem for the Bill or to undermine it from a legal point of view. We must be very careful here in terms of unforeseen consequences. The last thing I want, having got this Bill to this point, is to have it challenged in court and struck down. People have waited a long time for this. I am very aware of the sensitivities involved and know the hurt that people feel. I also know that sometimes they think we have been a bit too legalistic in our approach but we must make sure that the Bill succeeds and gives them what they want, which is a right to their identity. At the same time, the Bill also provides for a proactive approach in that when someone registers, we will actively find a contact for him or her.
I accept the Minister's good intentions and bona fides on this. The Bill raised constitutional issues in terms of the Supreme Court ruling on the right to privacy of natural mothers and the one year lead-in period was provided for in that context, along with the veto. However, I understand that the one year lead-in time was not specifically part of the Attorney General's advice. Given that the Minister has said that he is considering it in the spirit, which is very important to the adoption community, of ensuring that no one is left behind, then hopefully we will be able to reduce the time limit. I would very much like it to be 30 or 60 days but even six months or four months would be better than a year. Every month by which we reduce it potentially brings people together and gives them their right to an identity, in some instances before they pass away, which is hugely important.
I reiterate that this is an issue that I am actively examining and regularly reviewing. I would like to see it reduced to the shortest possible time but still remain safe from a legal point of view. I am not implying that the Attorney General, in this particular instance, has given advice regarding the year's duration. However, we have legal advice to that effect at the moment and we will seek to get hardened advice that will allow us to reduce it as much as possible.
I wish to take the opportunity to thank all those in the adoption community, adoptees and birth mothers and all who have taken the time to speak to us. I also thank all of those who made contributions during the pre-legislative scrutiny process at the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children. I thank everyone for their forbearance and reassure them that we are seeking to address this issue to their satisfaction.
