Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 March 2017
597. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the action to be taken to fulfil the need to provide €25,000 to a project (details supplied) for counselling services; if the core funding for this project will be increased substantially to allow the project to deal with the many demands on its services; and the funding strategy for this sector generally and, in particular, the funding for counselling services. [15085/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraTusla has confirmed that Kilkenny School Completion Programme (SCP) receives an annual grant of €260,172 to support the range of interventions that have been put in place to support young people at risk of early school leaving and young people who are out of school. There is provision within the SCP grant scheme to allocate up to €5,000 of this funding annually towards counselling supports should a) such supports be deemed essential to support young people at risk of early school leaving or young people out of school and b) should no other counselling supports be accessible or available to meet these counselling needs.
Kilkenny SCP is currently preparing its SCP plan for the 2017/2018 school year. The plan is due to be submitted by April 21st 2017 and should reflect the planned programme of interventions agreed by Kilkenny SCP to meet the needs of the young people being supported by the SCP programme.
Budget 2017 made no provision for increases in the School Completion Programme Budget so the funding available for the 2017/2018 school year remains the same as that available for the current school year.
While the School Completion Programme allows some funding to be allocated towards counselling supports where such supports are required for students being supported by the SCP programme and such supports are not available from any other source, the School Completion Programme is not designed to meet wider counselling needs in schools.
Tusla supports and funds child counselling through the Agency’s Family Support Services funding. In 2016 funding solely for child counselling was increased under this scheme by €154,000 to €680,000. In particular child counselling funding to 70 Family Resource Centres around Ireland was increased to €242,000.
Tusla is the primary funder of Barnardos Children's Bereavement Service. This funding was increased by €20,000 in 2016, total funding to the service is now €154,600. Tusla is also committed to the funding of Rainbows Ireland, which provides group based support to children dealing with loss following parental separation /divorce or a death. The Rainbows programme is currently delivered in over 250 schools and community based centres around the country. Funding in 2016 was increased by €15,000 to €250,000 annually.
