Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 March 2023
15. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will review the funding criteria for family resource centres. in particular centres (details supplied) in Ballynacargy and Athlone, County Westmeath, whose funding has remained largely the same since they first opened despite a significant expansion of services being provided. [14842/23]
View answerThank you Deputy for your question, this is an area of interest for me, I know you have raised this directly with me on a number of occasions. The work that Family Resource Centres do is vital to so many families, vulnerable people and in many instances recent arrivals to our country. The Government greatly appreciates the work of Family Resource Centres funded by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.
Tusla Core funding to the Athlone FRC in 2019 was €105,073 and has risen to €114,739 for 2023. Caraphort FRC over the same years has gone from €94,910 to €103,641. These were challenging years and FRCs continued to perform important work for communities throughout the pandemic and during the arrival of so many new communities to Ireland.
This financial support is provided by way of a contribution towards the running costs of the centres, to cover the employment of two to three members of staff and some overhead costs. It should be noted other Government bodies also provide significant funding to Family Resource Centres to deliver services on their behalf. In 2020 more then half of their funding came from non-Tusla sources such as Local Authorities, ETBs, the HSE, Pobal or the Dept. of Social Protection.
Throughout 2018 and 2019, my Department provided Tusla with an additional €4.5 million to invest in the family resource centres programme. This funding facilitated the expansion of that programme to 121 family resource centres and provided additional supports in core funding for existing family resource centres. In 2019/2020 all Family Resource Centres were awarded an additional 5% once-off funding to support FRCs through the Covid period.
In 2022 all FRCs were awarded an additional 4% increase to their core funding (Sustainability Funding). The Family Resource Centres programme has also benefited from Dormant Account funding €650,000 in 2021 and €1 million in 2022. I am aware that Family Resource Centres are providing significant levels of assistance on the ground in communities who are welcoming Ukrainian people and I have asked Tusla to continue to support Family Resource Centres in those efforts.
A spending review of Tusla-funded family support services is ongoing. A summary of the review was published in December 2022 and two detailed chapters are expected in the near future. This review will help inform future priorities for investment in these services.
I will continue to engage with Tusla, and Family Resource Centres on the key issue of their funding and sustainability of the valuable services they provide to our communities. I will consider Tusla's provision of Family support services in my Performance Framework for Tusla for the period 2024-2026.
In the meantime, Tusla continues to work with community-based family support organisations to best meet the needs of vulnerable children, families and communities.
