That call has been open since last Friday and will remain so until 20 July. There will be strong communication through the city and county childcare committees and we will do all that we can. To be clear, we are going to afford a number of different opportunities for engagement. This is the first. There will be focus groups, stakeholder engagement, online surveys and lots of other opportunities. We want the maximum engagement. To reiterate, we are really keen that parents who avail of childminders will ultimately h…

The guardian ad litem national service has now been established following commencement of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2022. This signifies a major step forward in delivering a high-quality, consistent service for children, grounded in children’s rights. There is a 12-month transition period for existing guardians, as set out in the legislation. This means that the GALs already appointed by the courts can continue in their current roles. Of the 107 guardians currently practising, 95 guardians ad litem applied and…

I thank the Deputy. The Act provides scope for, in the first instance, setting and revising standards and practice as regards the function, training, record-keeping and conduct of guardians in their roles. The national service will keep these issues under consideration as it completes its work during the first 12 months from June 2026. On records, it is my understanding that cards or any kind of correspondence of that nature would be kept by Tusla. Anything pertaining to the court case is a different matter. I can …

I accept that queries have been raised around legal representation. I wish to confirm that I have met with the directorate and there is an in-house legal team of a number of very highly qualified individuals with the appropriate legal background who make themselves available at all times for any kind of legal advice that might be required. I have met the head of legal in that respect and she has ensured me that she and her team are available at all times. There is also very specific legal representation available s…

I will begin by expressing my thanks to Deputies Kerrane and Ó Murchú for raising this important issue and for offering me the opportunity to respond. I acknowledge, as I have previously, how upsetting it was to watch and listen to the experiences of the young people interviewed as part of last week's programme, and I commend and thank each one of them on speaking out. It is vital that we have the opportunity to hear from young people with experience of the care system and it is important that we listen to them. Fo…

I thank the Deputies for raising this important issue. In order to overcome the challenges within the care system that were highlighted on the programme and which have been raised by the Deputies, which I acknowledge, the Department secured an overall increase of €177 million for Tusla in the most recent budget. That is representing a 14% increase in Tusla's budget over 2025. This brings Tusla's total budget to over €1.4 billion. Additionally, Tusla plans to invest a total of €286 million in expanding mainstream re…

I thank the Deputy. As she will be aware, the mother and baby homes institutions payment scheme provides payments and health benefits to people who spent time in any of the mother and baby, or county home, institutions. These were institutions that were identified by the mother and baby homes commission of investigation as having a main function of providing sheltered and supervised ante- and post-natal facilities to single mothers and their children. The institutions covered by the payment scheme are set out in Sc…

Specifically, in relation to the case, I acknowledge that the Department of children is responsible for overseeing the administration of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme and it must do so in line with the legislative scope and the intent of the Mother and Baby and Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023 as enacted by the Oireachtas. There has been considerable consideration of the legal advice that has been rendered. The Deputy is correct in seeking two institutions to be added to the scheme but I am ob…

I do not at all take away from the individual cases the Deputy referenced. I have to say in sincerity that I am obliged to accept the legal advice presented by the Attorney General and the legal teams. The legal advice that I have received is quite categoric in that it proposes that the decision as it stands would create a number of significant unintended difficulties. That is the clear-cut legal advice. In terms of the scheme in general, more than 7,000 applications have been received and 6,500 notices of determin…

I appreciate the Deputy raising the question and I acknowledge that she has raised it previously. The guardian ad litem , GAL, service is a nationally organised and managed service established to ensure that children's voices are heard and their best interests are independently presented in childcare proceedings by an appointed guardian ad litem . The target is 23 June for commencement of Part 7 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2022. The Department is continually working towards this launch date. The commencement …

I do not for a single second underestimate the importance of the powerful advocacy of guardians ad litem . They are hugely important. This process is to ensure that they have the appropriate supports, the appropriate regulation and that everything is as it should be. I reiterate that for many years there have been calls to examine this system to see how we can do better and to ensure that the voice of the child is very much at the centre. They are a very powerful resource. I do not take from that in any shape or fo…

I reiterate that the entire purpose here is to ensure that the guardian ad litem service is doing what it should do. I recognise that guardians ad litem are an incredibly powerful resource who are hugely important in presenting the view of the child. This is to strengthen the service and ensure the system works. It is important that the system is regulated and there is absolutely no doubt about that. It is important that access to legal support is there where a case has been made in this regard and there is no ques…

The Deputy will be aware that we recently announced €135 million in capital investment in buildings for high-quality accessible State-led early learning and childcare. The process begins this year, as he said, with investment in buildings in what will be a groundbreaking initiative for the Government. Capital funding will be used to acquire or fit out building, depending on the requirements. Up to eight buildings will be selected for investment this year and the State-led initiative will provide thousands of places…

I acknowledge there are three applications in Kildare and they will be adjudicated in due course. The purpose of the State-led system is to step in where there is no provision. The point I was attempting to make on existing providers is that they may well be better suited to the building blocks arrangement. We have just announced a €10 million investment for private powders or community providers in the core funding model who can apply to extend their premises and provide additional places. Some of the applications…

To be fair, it is a rolling application and it is still possible to nominate or submit buildings. There will come a point where we will have to say they will be considered in 2027 as opposed to 2026 and I want to be clear on this. At present we are still accepting them. In terms of Kildare, under the previous building blocks scheme two proposals were accepted and funded. I encourage more providers, either in Kildare or anywhere else throughout the country, to take a look at the scheme extension we announced earlier…

As I said earlier, I am pleased to have announced on Tuesday that next phase of the building scheme. It is a €10 million capital funding scheme to deliver a significant number of additional early learning and childcare places. The scheme is being funded under the updated national development plan. The purpose of the building blocks scheme is to deliver additional capacity in the sector by supporting existing early learning and childcare services to undertake physical extensions to existing premises. The scheme will…

I thank Deputy Dempsey very much. I acknowledge her personal engagement with me on all matters related to early years and childcare. I know it is a particular priority for her and her constituents. The Deputy is correct that it is important to look at two schemes. The building blocks scheme has incredible potential to support private providers but also community providers and, indeed, to provide additional places. The previous scheme is seeking to deliver 1,500 additional places and this will be a further addition.…

I acknowledge the role of the city and county childcare committees. We are indebted to them for their expertise and the manner in which they provide engagement on the ground with local providers, both private and community. I give them a shout-out because we have 50 engagements taking place right across the country on developing phase 2 of our action plan. Part of the discussion or conversation is around education, particularly early years education. Those on-the-ground consultations are very important and, as I sa…

The mother and baby institutions payment scheme opened for applications in March 2024. Over its full lifetime, the scheme had been tentatively estimated to benefit up to a maximum of 34,000 people who spent time in mother and baby and county home institutions. The scheme is open for five years, so there is ample time for survivors to apply. It is very important that they are aware of that. I believe they have until March 2029 to apply. It is difficult to predict at what stage across its five-year lifetime applicati…

Specifically on the 6,500 determinations and 5,200 payments, they will all have come at different times. The gap between the two figures is because the applications came at different times and are being processed at different times. However, if a notice of determination has been reached, it has been reached. It is absolutely our desire and intention to get the maximum number of people engaged in the process. I acknowledge the work that has been done in the UK to have a disregard for people in the UK who are applyin…