I 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.