Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 April 2013
110. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will clarify the factual position regarding the now anticipated official commencement of operations by the child and family support agency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17434/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraWork is well advanced on the establishment of the new child and family agency. Last week, as part of the ongoing preparatory work, the Government approved, on my recommendation, the appointment of Ms Norah Gibbons as first chairperson of the board of the agency. Ms Gibbons has proven herself to be a true champion for reform of children’s services and one of Ireland's leading advocates for children. I believe she will bring great enthusiasm and experience to this new role. In preparation for the formal establishment of the new agency it is my intention to appoint Ms Gibbons as chair of the existing Family Support Agency, one of the constituent bodies to be merged into the child and family agency. In line with the practice established by this Government, Ms Gibbons will appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children in advance of her taking up her position. I wish her every success and look forward to many positive and productive engagements with her.
I also intend to publicly seek expressions of interest through the www.publicjobs.ie website for the remaining members of the Family Support Agency board. The selection of these board members will reflect the enhanced role being given to this board in overseeing, on an administrative basis, the governance and organisational preparations for the new agency.
Drafting of the legislation to establish the agency is progressing well in conjunction with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel. Work is at an advanced stage and I expect to receive the draft legislation very shortly and to bring the content to Government for approval prior to publication. This will happen during this Dáil term. It is very comprehensive legislation, providing as it does for the subsuming of functions from three separate agencies, namely, the HSE, the Family Support Agency and the National Educational Welfare Board, and reassigning, under law, the sensitive and complex legal responsibilities which arise with regard to the care and protection of children and the promotion of their welfare. I intend to provide adequate time for consultation on this important legislation, both within this House and with stakeholders.
I join the Minister in wishing Ms Norah Gibbons every success in her new role and responsibilities. I welcome her appointment.
The Minister used the phrase "this Dáil term" with reference to the legislation. However, one of her Cabinet colleagues, the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, also used that phrase in response to questions I posed to him on a different matter, that is, the White Paper on universal health insurance. I asked him, because this response was coming back, what he actually meant by "this Dáil term". He said he understood it to mean the lifetime of the current Dáil, that is, a five-year period of time. That exchange is on the record of the House. Language is so important in establishing clarity. I would say "this Dáil session", perhaps, might better indicate what I hope is the Minister's intention.
I have tabled this question again, not because I want to do this month on month and to harangue the Minister with regard to the child and family agency but because I wish to share with her the fact that I attended the HSE Dublin north-east regional service plan briefing on Friday, 8 March in Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown.
It is a very long question.
The answer to the Deputy's first question is "the current Dáil term". We are not talking about the next number of years.
It will be before the summer.
Yes, it will be within the current Dáil term. The legislation is very close to finalisation. It is an enormous Bill and I want to be absolutely sure that all the preparatory work is done. I know the Deputy is aware that much work is ongoing in setting up the agency and it is not that we are just waiting for legislation and nothing else is happening. I will set a precise date for the establishment of the agency when we bring legislation to the House and pending discussion in the Dáil and the Seanad. I have been in touch with the offices of Deputies Ó Caoláin and Troy to offer a more detailed briefing on setting up the agency. There will also be an opportunity in Friday's committee meeting for me to spell out in more detail precisely what is happening at this stage.
It is a significant transformation and a big priority for the Government. All of the necessary organisational changes are continuing while we await changes, and the scale of changes is considerable. We must be very careful and prepare extremely well in this regard. One example of an area where good progress is being made but where we have much work is in developing the financial procedures and accounting required for a major public body like the child and family agency. We have to build new financial systems to deal on a national level with some of the issues currently dealt with locally. I pay tribute to the Secretary General of my Department, Mr. Jim Breslin, who has done much work in preparing for the establishment of the agency, as well as Mr. Gordon Jeyes.
Over 100 reforms are in motion to change the way in which various issues are dealt with and I would be very happy to speak about them in more detail. For example, there will be reorganisation of residential centres into a national service under a single national manager. There will also be a review of case loads and reformation of the interface with the courts system. Given the cost of court cases and child care, Mr. Jeyes has been doing much work in that regard.
Intense work is also being done within the HSE by Gordon Jeyes and the new management team, and by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, in preparation not just for the legislation but for all of the organisational changes. The legislation will be before the Dáil during this term and I expect to be in a position to introduce in the Bill to establish the agency in the next couple of weeks.
On the question of the psychiatrists, the Minister is fully aware of the concerns on paper and knows from listening to the oral case presented that there is a basis for that concern that must be addressed, measured and evaluated and a decision reached. Can the Minister indicate where this process is at present? Also, what is the situation with the public health nurses?
I will not go over the details here - the Deputy has heard me speak before about the precise services transferring at present. Deputy Ó Caoláin supports the principle, as does Deputy Troy, that the new agency should not just be a child protection agency but should be concerned with family support and early intervention. If that is to be the reality, a range of services must be available to families at an early stage. It was clear from the child death report that some families did not have that. That is where the question of psychology comes in.
There has been a meeting of the working group and I have just received its report. I will study it and discuss with my colleagues in the Department of Health the precise arrangements that will be put in place for psychologists. It is important that professionals are open to the establishment of a new agency and the vision it wants to deliver for children. I ask all professional groups to show flexibility on ensuring children have access to those services. I have met representatives of the psychologists and I understand their concerns. Equally, I understand that if the new agency is to be a success, we need a range of services, such as psychologists and public health nurses, to be available in the first instance from the agency. I ask for the Deputy's support on that because it is vital a broad range of services are available in the new agency.
Many of the public health nurses are very keen to work with the agency. During its initial development, we selected the groups that had already been identified and it was envisaged services currently delivered to families by public health nurses would be considered, just at a later stage. We must consider various ways in which those services can be provided through the agency but that is an medium-term objective for the arrangements we must make.
Before I call the next question, I remind Deputies there are two minutes for a Minister's reply and four minutes for supplementary questions and replies.
