Care Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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Norma Foley (FF), Kerry

I acknowledge that there is an issue in terms of staffing levels for special care. We are very conscious of that. As I said, you can be dealing with very complex cases at a minimum. It is a staff requirement of seven people to one young person. In many instances, 14 staff could be required for one young person. Tusla is proactive on the ground, ensuring that there will be newer avenues or streams to bring in staff and make staff available. I have already referenced the new special care category, which is a 20% increase in wage. I also acknowledge that Tusla has recently launched a new special care training college. National and international recruitment campaigns have been undertaken, along with graduate sponsorship schemes, which is important. Tusla has also engaged with higher education institutions to establish a work-based learning programme which leads to a BA in social care. This programme is currently laying the foundation for formal establishment of a national apprenticeship scheme. Alongside these steps to improve capacity in special care and residential care, actions are being taken to improve foster care capacity, which is hugely important.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23