Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2021
993. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of non-public health nurse referrals for sponsorship under the national childcare scheme by category and month from May 2020 to May 2021, in tabular form. [31620/21]
View answerThe Sponsorship arrangement available within the NCS offers additional supports for families with complex needs. The need for a sponsored referral is a determination for the relevant Sponsor Body and one they make based on the particular need of the child in line with their defined criteria as set out in the Childcare Support Act 2018.
The Deputy has asked separate questions about HSE sponsorship, this answer will address sponsorship by the other four Sponsor Bodies.
Table 1 provides the monthly breakdown of the number of children referred for sponsorship between 1 May 2020 and 31 May 2021. While these numbers represent completed sponsored referrals, not all have progressed to a claim being made against their award.
Table 2 shows the total figures for referrals by each Sponsor Body.
Table 1:
Table 2:
|
Sponsor |
Children |
|
All Department of Education referred children |
6 |
|
All Department of Justice referred children |
231 |
|
All National Homeless Authority referred children |
423 |
|
All TUSLA referred children |
1,019 |
It should be noted that one child may be the subject of multiple sponsored referrals over a year, as such unique counts are not added together when calculating the total figure.
