Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
892. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the estimated cost of developing a contact centre for the purposes of facilitating court directed supervised access; and the estimated full year cost of running such a facility. [33767/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra893. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to ensure that court directed supervised access can be facilitated through publicly funded facilities; his further plans to provide funding for this purpose; and the estimated cost of providing 100 hours of access per annum. [33768/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 892 and 893 together.
The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has informed my Department that it is conducting a scoping exercise to establish background information on Family Contact Centres. The objectives of the scoping exercise are to:
- Establish the availability and location of Family Contact Centres in Ireland, the services they provide and current data available on their usage
- Identify and review previous research, evaluation reports and other studies conducted in Ireland on Family Contact Centres
- Identify and compare similar services in other jurisdictions
A survey has been issued to all Family Resource Centres (109) to gather information about the facilitation of family contact visits. To date, 82 responses have been completed and the results are being analysed.
The results of the scoping exercise will inform the next steps to be taken in relation to Family Contact Centres in Ireland.
My Department is not in a position to provide the detailed costing information requested by the Deputy.
