Childcare Services
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-19
============================================================

Garret Ahearn (FG), Administrative Panel

I thank the Minister of State very much for her response. As she said, it needs to be acknowledged, through the Minister's intervention. The work the Irish Foster Care Association has done and the support it has given me over the past week on this issue played its part in Tusla rolling back on that decision of ending the service with St. Bernard's. It is hugely welcome that has been done, as was the acknowledgement from Tusla that not enough consultation had happened. However, we do not want to be in this situation this time next year when Tusla decides again that it is going to end the services. It has talked about having a co-designed model and the Minister of State said that is an important word but that is not an easy thing for Tusla to do because the strength of this service is it supports both the child and the foster family together and that holistic approach is not easily replicated in a standardised model. The concern is whether replacing a specialised, relationship-based service with a standardised model can genuinely meet those principles in practice. One of Tusla's core emphases is that if services are removed services of equal or better standard are provided somewhere else. From my knowledge of the foster service provided, no service in the country provides the type of personal support that St. Bernard's does to foster carers and the children in the area.
If Tusla is setting up a standardised model across the country, it is very difficult to provide exactly that co-designed service that is provided at St. Bernard's. I acknowledge and appreciate that the proposal is being rolled back and the service will continue, but I am not convinced that the specialised service provided at St. Bernard's can be provided by Tusla in a standardised model. That is a discussion that needs to be had throughout the year with Tusla.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19