Child Protection Services Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 May 2016

Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Questions (929, 930)

Anne Rabbitte

Question:

929. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has any concerns about reports from practitioners of long waiting periods for section 20 reports requested by District Courts and carried out by Tusla; and further to the reply to Parliamentary Question No. 305 of 19 January 2016, if the information is available. [13203/16]

Anne Rabbitte

Question:

930. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason for the closure of the central section 20 office that previously covered the Dublin and mid-Leinster region. [13204/16]

Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

I propose to take Questions Nos. 929 and 930 together.

Under section 20 of the Child Care Act 1991, a Court may, of its own volition or on the application of any person, adjourn proceedings and direct the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, to undertake an investigation of the child's circumstances where there is concern for the safety, care, health or welfare of a child involved in the proceedings. The subsequent report to the court will advise and give reasons if an application for a care or supervision order is being recommended, as well as an indication of what other services the child may need from Tusla.

Tusla has advised that the Central Section 20 Office referred to by the Deputy was established in the 1990’s under the former Eastern Health Board to provide reports for the court in relation to custody and access cases. Initially, there were 6 staff assigned to the team and over the years this number reduced due to the non filling of vacancies. In mid 2015, the decision was made to disband the Section 20 Office. At that time staffing consisted of 0.6 Social Work Team Leader and 0.8 Social Worker posts. Tusla does not now have dedicated Section 20 departments or teams.

I can confirm that all section 20 requests go to the local areas and are allocated according to the principles of caseload management. The additional funding of €38 million which the Government has allocated to Tusla for 2016, will give the Agency greater capacity to respond to identified demand and to alleviate pressures being faced in specific areas.

The following table contains the information available to 23rd March 2016, which I understand was issued shortly after this in reply to the earlier parliamentary question.

Area	Year	No. of reports requested by the Courts
	2013	2
	2014	12
Kerry	2015	10
	2013	24
	2014	21
Cork	2015	18
	2013	18
	2014	15
Waterford/Wexford	2015	19
	2013	Not available
	2014	56
Carlow/ Kilkenny/ South Tipperary	2015	37
	2013	7
	2014	5
Dublin North City	2015	7
	2013	3
	2014	5
North Dublin	2015	11
	2013	6
	2014	3
Cavan/ Monaghan	2015	16
	2013	Not available
	2014	Not available
Louth/ Meath	2015	[April '15 to March '16] 17
	2013	93
	2014	131
Mid-West	2015	112
	2013	2
	2014	5
Sligo/ Leitrim/ West Cavan	2015	3
	2013	8
	2014	29
Donegal	2015	16
	2013	35
	2014	31
Galway/ Roscommon	2015	26
	2013	10
	2014	20
Mayo	2015	15
	2013	3
	2014	4
Dublin South Central	2015	3
	2013	10
	2014	7
Dublin South West/ Kildare/ West Wicklow	2015	12
	2013	4
	2014	5
Dublin South East/ Wicklow	2015	1
	2013	[Oct to Dec 2013] 10
	2014	33
Midlands	2015	25

Note: The data above for Dublin South Central, Dublin South West/Kildare/ West Wicklow and Dublin South East/Wicklow is partial and refers only to those reports completed by the Central Section 20 Office which was disbanded in October 2015.