Vol. 490 No. 3
8 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the reason for the delay in publishing the report by the Commission on the Family; when he will publish this report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10096/98]
12 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs when the report of the Commission on the Family will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7247/98]
16 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he has received the report of the Commission on the Family which he indicated in Dáil Éireann on 26 November 1997 was expected prior to Christmas 1997; if the report has been submitted to Government; when it is intended to publish the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10041/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 12 and 16 together.
I have today received the final report of the Commission on the Family, which is 700 pages in length. It is my intention to bring the report to Government shortly, when I have read it, with a recommendation that it should be published. I understand that due to the scope and nature of the issues involved, the finalisation of the report of the commission took somewhat longer than expected.
Preliminary examination in my Department indicates the report contains a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of issues affecting families and wide-ranging recommendations across several different policy areas. The recommendations have been put forward by the commission with the intention that they will provide the basis for the development of an integrated family policy to strengthen and assist families in coping with change and to put in place the supports to prevent family breakdown. In addition, the commission has undertaken some original and significant research work which will be of benefit to analysts and policy makers, including a national survey of the child care arrangements which families make, sociological research on fathers and their role in family life and an overview of family policy generally.
The commission brought forward some aspects of the final report for consideration in the context of the preparation of the 1998 budget. I was delighted to be able to respond to the commission's recommendations. The Government provided significant allocations in the budget for the development of family services in my Department in 1998, including £700,000 for a network of family and community services resource centres — 25 or so new centres are to be put in place in 1998 in addition to the existing ten; an extra £600,000 for marriage counselling services bringing the total provision in 1998 to £1.5 million; and an extra £600,000 for the family mediation service for the establishment of additional centres towards the development of a national service, as we undertook to provide in our programme for Government.
In addition, I have set up a new family affairs unit in my Department to promote the co-ordination of family policy, pursue the findings in the commission's final report following their consideration by the Government and to undertake research and promote awareness about family issues. An allocation of somewhere in the region of £850,000 was made available to me in the budget to set up this unit and, given the size of the report, I will need the unit. It will have responsibility for a number of family services including support for the marriage and child counselling services, the family mediation service, a pilot programme in relation to the local offices of my Department, building on the one-stop-shop concept with the aim of providing improved support at local level to families, and an information programme on parenting issues. Following consideration by the Government, the report will be published as soon as possible.
I thank the Minister for his reply. I am delighted to see this document, but I am glad that he rather than I will have to go through it. I understood the report was to be published around Christmas. I wondered about its delay, but given its size I understand the reason. I was under the impression the commission was experiencing difficulty in deciding on key recommendations, but I am sure there are many recommendations in the report. Many of the submissions to the commission related to child care, which has become such an important issue especially when both parents have to work to pay the mortgage, and other issues to which I referred earlier. I wish the Minister luck in dealing with the report which I hope will be published shortly.
Thank you, Deputy.
I also extend best wishes to the Minister on this matter, but I wish to put a suggestion to him. He read two pages of a reply to a simple question about when the report will be published. Will he consider changing the format of his replies and answer the question he is asked and no more? There seems to be some anxiety, particularly in his Department, to ensure reams of paragraphs are provided for the Minister to reply to every simple question and consequently we are wasting a good deal of our time.
From now on the Minister should focus on the questions he is asked. He has responsibility for the answers. He should indicate to those faithful and willing civil servants that he does not expect them to fill up two pages of rubbish when asked a simple question. The same practice should apply to all the questions he is asked. In that way we would get through business a lot quicker.
It is my desire to be as informative as possible.
The Minister should be as informative as possible when asked, but not for the sake of delay.
It always gives me great pleasure to tell the Deputy the excellent initiatives that have been taken by my Department at my instigation, including all of the measures taken in the recent budget.
This is so defensive.
I thank the Deputy for acknowledging the report is available and it will be published shortly.
Methinks the Minister doth protest too much.
