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Departmental Funding

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 November 2018

Wednesday, 7 November 2018

Questions (7)

Bernard Durkan

Question:

7. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which she remains satisfied regarding the adequacy of the budget available to cater for the full extent of her Department's responsibilities including the protection of children, the monitoring of at risk cases and the follow-up as necessary; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45721/18]

View answer

Oral answers (7 contributions)

My question seeks to ascertain the extent to which the Minister remains satisfied that she has adequate resources at her disposal to carry out the work and the tasks entrusted to her, including all the referrals, the first instant responses, the placements and the follow-ups.

I thank the Deputy; brevity is his middle name.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the gross amount of funding being made available to my Department in 2019 will be €1.511 billion, which represents an increase of 9% over its allocation for 2018. The allocation includes a current provision of €1.479 billion and a capital allocation of €32 million.

Just over half of the total funding, or €786 million, is targeted at public services within Tusla to protect our children and to provide for their welfare. A further €574 million will help us to build an accessible, affordable and high quality childcare system. I have secured an additional €110 million for Tusla since becoming Minister in 2016. With regard to 2019 funding, I am pleased to confirm that the agency will receive an additional €33 million. This will bring Tusla’s overall allocation to €786 million, an increase of 4% over the 2018 allocation. Some €25 million of the overall increase will be used to meet increasing costs associated with existing services.

In addition to this, the extra funding I secured for Tusla will be used to progress a number of key priorities including the implementation of recommendations made by HIQA following its investigation into the management of child sexual abuse allegations. Together with experts from Tusla, the Garda, children’s rights campaigners and advocates I have been examining how we can improve our support and help to children who have been sexually abused. This is another issue.

Funding has now been secured to allow us to pilot a new approach to ensure children do not have to relive their abuse by having to retell their experience over and over again. A new One House model will be piloted in 2019, and this represents a joint approach across three Departments and three statutory agencies.

I thank the Minister for her reply. To what extent does the Minister continue to be satisfied regarding the response rate and the time from the first notice of a child, children or a family at risk? Does the Minister remain satisfied that she has achieved an adequate response rate, that the follow up for placements is quick enough to ensure the protection of children and that it is effective enough to ensure the children are not replaced in similar circumstances?

I thank the Deputy for his thoughtful question. I can certainly say that I feel very assured that when a child comes to the attention of Tusla, in the context of what is going on within the family, and if there is an immediate risk to the child's safety, the processes are in place for supporting the child and that the risk is removed.

Subsequent to that, and with regard to the second part of the question, there are processes for analysis of the issues and circumstances and the best ways of supporting the child in the context of the family, prioritising the child in the context of the other children and families Tusla has to address in the different areas. I am aware that those are arenas where the processes and numbers of people who are working in Tusla need to be improved and are being improved with various action plans and reform plans in place. This is in light of many of the difficulties it has experienced, even in the last year. It is not as good as any of us would like to see it, but I know that plans are in place for reforms.

Is the Minister satisfied that adequate steps can be taken in the current year to address the issues that have concerned her in the past and that continue to concern people who have an obvious interest in the welfare of children?

There are two arenas. There is the retrospective abuse case allegation with regard to the McCabe issue. The disclosures tribunal reported on that. The statutory investigation by HIQA also reported on that. In both cases, and certainly in the statutory investigation, the board put in place an action plan. I have met the board recently and it is working through that. We identified a number of areas that the board needs to ensure are addressed. In both of the contexts I feel confident that the plans are in place and that the organisation is attentive to the real, deep concerns that are there, and what needs to be done in order to change.

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