Wednesday, 31 May 2017

Written Answers Nos. 264-273

HIQA Reports

Questions (264)

Anne Rabbitte

Question:

264. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has received a report on Tusla by HIQA in the past month; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26150/17]

Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

In the past month, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs has not received a specific report on Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, from the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

My Department is routinely provided with HIQA inspection reports on the services provided by Tusla. These reports are published by HIQA on its website. As of 29 May, 2017, 16 inspection reports have been published, three of which were published in May 2017. HIQA carries out inspections independently against the relevant standards for a number of services, including: children residential centres; special care units; private and statutory foster care services; and Tusla's child welfare and protection services.

HIQA Reports

Questions (265)

Anne Rabbitte

Question:

265. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has received HIQA's report on the management of allegations of child sexual abuse; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26151/17]

Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

Earlier this year I directed the Health Information Quality Authority, under Section 9 of the Health Act 2007, to carry out a statutory investigation of Tusla’s management of allegations of child sexual abuse. HIQA published its Terms of Reference and methodology for this investigation on 25 April 2017. The HIQA investigation is to assess how local, regional and national governance arrangements in Tulsa are supporting the effective management of child-sexual abuse referrals involving adults of concern (including allegations of child-sexual abuse made by adults in relation to when they were children).

The statutory investigation is precluded from examining matters that fall within the Terms of Reference of the Tribunal of Inquiry established to inquire into certain protected disclosures, arising from the protected disclosures made by Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe. HIQA has stated that in the interest of fair procedures, it does not envisage making public comment on the investigation prior to publication.

Publication of the final report is now a matter for HIQA, following approval by the HIQA Board. I look forward to receiving the report in due course.

Child Care Services Funding

Questions (266)

Anne Rabbitte

Question:

266. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the allocated funding for city and county child care facilities, by county, in each of the years 2012 to 2016, in tabular form. [26167/17]

Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

The information requested by the Deputy is outlined in the following table:

County	2012 Funding	2013 Funding	2014 Funding	2015 Funding	2016 Funding
Carlow	267,874.00	244,000.00	224,000.00	223,965.00	224,000.00
Cavan	268,000.00	248,000.00	234,000.00	234,000.00	234,000.00
Clare	310,510.00	306,670.00	289,524.00	272,387.00	296,290.00
Cork	769,927.00	785,000.00	756,395.00	780,981.00	795,922.48
Donegal	370,000.00	363,000.00	363,000.00	363,000.00	370,000.00
Dublin	2,120,832.00	2,091,000.00	2,082,979.00	2,128,660.38	2,426,532.42
Galway	463,000.00	454,000.00	448,001.00	451,241.00	456,378.00
Kerry	365,000.00	354,000.00	347,000.00	345,108.00	348,500.00
Kildare	405,000.00	393,000.00	383,625.00	383,547.00	384,952.33
Kilkenny	276,869.00	263,000.00	255,000.00	254,899.19	254,988.13
Laois	254,231.00	244,000.00	230,000.00	69,000.00	192,500.00
Leitrim	249,000.00	227,000.00	208,924.00	208,997.00	208,997.00
Limerick	576,877.00	541,438.00	546,000.00	541,373.00	546,000.00
Longford	249,000.00	227,000.00	209,000.00	209,000.00	209,000.00
Louth	304,699.00	313,000.00	298,434.00	303,773.00	301,761.89
Mayo	329,000.00	319,000.00	313,000.00	313,000.00	313,000.00
Meath	393,268.00	383,436.00	373,863.00	380,997.00	380,920.00
Monaghan	268,000.00	248,000.00	234,000.00	234,000.00	234,000.00
Offaly	275,516.00	252,117.00	232,374.00	239,967.00	233,680.05
Roscommon	267,193.00	248,000.00	234,000.00	234,000.00	234,000.00
Sligo	268,000.00	248,000.00	234,000.00	233,588.00	307,102.50
Tipperary	544,747.00	508,000.00	479,000.00	478,063.00	440,189.68
Waterford	532,683.00	492,000.00	458,000.00	456,765.00	458,000.00
Westmeath	273,739.00	256,000.00	241,000.00	241,000.00	240,918.37
Wexford	362,871.00	359,000.00	336,524.00	346,478.00	345,631.19
Wicklow	332,254.00	317,000.00	302,890.00	302,775.00	302,782.00
	11,098,090.00	10,684,661.00	10,314,533.00	10,230,564.57	10,740,046.04

Child and Family Agency Staff

Questions (267)

Anne Rabbitte

Question:

267. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the office for historical cases has been set up in Tusla; the number of persons working in that department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26168/17]

Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

A historical or retrospective disclosure is where an adult discloses abuse experienced in childhood. I understand that the overwhelming majority of such disclosures are about sexual abuse.

I can advise the Deputy that the management of all referrals including retrospective/historical cases occurs at Area level. Tusla has advised me that a service improvement plan has been put in place to deal with these outstanding cases. In the first instance, specialist teams are working on high priority cases. Medium and low priority cases will be assessed by social workers who will be drawn from non-child protection teams, on a project basis, to deal with this work. The sections of Tusla they will be drawn from include adoption, quality assurance and training.

There is no plan to establish such an office, as described by the Deputy, in Tusla. Each retrospective case referred to Tusla will be screened by the Area Duty Team who will initially establish if there are any known child protection concerns and the Area will respond thereafter, as appropriate, to the referral.

Child and Family Agency Expenditure

Questions (268)

Anne Rabbitte

Question:

268. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the percentage of the Tusla budget which has been used on addressing historical cases from 2011 to 2016, by county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26169/17]

Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

The information sought by the Deputy has been requested from the Child and Family Agency and I will respond directly to the Deputy when the information is received.

The referred reply under Standing Order 42A was forwarded to the Deputy.

Youth Work Projects Funding

Questions (269)

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

269. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the current and capital expenditure allocations for youth work from her Department in each of the years 2014 to 2016, and to date in 2017, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26253/17]

Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work involving approximately 1,400 youth work staff working in youth services and communities throughout the country.

Budget 2017 provided an additional €5.5m in current funding to my Department to support the provision of these youth services. This will bring total youth funding in 2017 to €57.4m. The current allocations to my Department between 2014 and 2016 were as follows:

Year	Current allocation
2014	€49.78
2015	€49.93
2016	€51.86

In recent years, capital funding has been made available to my Department to purchase equipment and to support small scale projects, including refurbishment, health and safety fit-outs and accessibility improvements in local voluntary youth services. The capital allocations to my Department between 2014 and 2016 were as follows:

Year	Capital allocation
2014	€500.000
2015	€500,000
2016	€2,600,000

My Department is developing proposals for the disbursal of the 2017 capital funding allocation and I hope to be in a position to announce details in the coming months.

Youth Work Projects Funding

Questions (270, 271, 272)

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

270. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the way in which the additional €5.5 million for youth work services has been allocated in 2017; the additional funding that has been allocated to schemes (details supplied) in 2017, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26254/17]

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

271. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the details of the €51 million allocation to youth work services in 2016, including the allocation to schemes (details supplied); the way in which the balance of the €51 million funding other than to the schemes was allocated, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26255/17]

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

272. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the way in which the €57.4 million allocation to youth work services was allocated in 2017, including the allocation to schemes (details supplied); and the way in which the balance of the €57.4 million funding other than to the schemes was allocated, in tabular form. [26256/17]

Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

I propose to take Questions Nos. 270 to 272, inclusive, together.

My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision involving approximately 1,400 youth work staff and 40,000 volunteers working in youth work services and communities throughout the country.

Budget 2017 provided an additional €5.5m in current funding to my Department to support the provision of these youth services. This will bring total youth funding in 2017 to €57.4m. This additional funding has been used for programmes that target disadvantaged young people and to assist national youth organisations in their work to support local voluntary youth services. The following table shows the 2016 and 2017 allocations, broken down by funding line:

Fund	2016	2017
Special Projects for Youth	€14,061,769	€14,764,857
Young People's Facilities and Services Fund (Round 1)	€5,279,042	€5,542,994
Young People's Facilities and Services Fund (Round 2)	€12,675,829	€13,309,620
Local Drugs Task Force Projects	€1,123,829	€1,180,021
Targeted funds total	€33,140,469	€34,797,492
Youth Information Centres	€1,216,562	€1,277,390
Youth Service Grant Scheme	€10,148,980	€10,651,765
Sample VFMPR Projects	€418,535	€2,029,462
Local Youth Club Grant Scheme	€1,997,068	€2,103,568
Youth Officer Allocation and Technical Assistance	€3,166,372	€3,423,374
LGBTI+ Youth Strategy	0	€400,000
Other National Youth Organisations and Youth Initiatives	€1,511,073	€1,635,281
DCYA Policy and Support Programmes	€286,118	€476,669
New Initiatives and other funding streams within Department	0	€600,000
Total	€51,885,179	€57,395,000

White Paper on Defence

Questions (273)

Fiona O'Loughlin

Question:

273. Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the measures that have taken place to increase the operational capacity and numbers in the Army ranger wing as per the recommendations in the White Paper on Defence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26086/17]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Defence

The Army Ranger Wing (ARW) are the Special Operations Forces of the Defence Forces. In this context, the ARW are trained and equipped to undertake a range of specialist roles. Details with regard to the strength of the ARW are not released into the public domain for security and operational reasons.

The White Paper on Defence (2015) sets out the capability agenda for the Defence Forces for the next decade. It contains a commitment to further enhance the capabilities of the ARW. Work to identify a range of options in this regard is ongoing as part of the implementation of the White Paper.