I thank all the Deputies for their contributions on the large-scale reforms we all recognise are needed in the areas of disability and care. I also thank them for speaking to the individual constituents and the extremely difficult individual cases that all of us as constituency TDs face daily, and our knowledge that the entire system needs to do so much more for people with a disability. It is always a bit difficult to speak in detail in reply to a Deputy when they are not in the Chamber but I want to touch on some…

The care and welfare of children in care is a priority for the Government. I and my Department were very much aware of the issues the Deputy has raised and these continue to be the subject of focused and continuous engagement between my Department and Tusla at every level. As we know, Tusla is facing significant and ongoing challenges in sourcing appropriate placements for children in the care of the State. This is due to a number of factors, including difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff, difficulties in…

The Deputy is absolutely right about the importance of moving away from private sector reliance, which is significant. I made the investment in Tusla this year in order that it can grow its own stock of residential placements. We are also looking at supporting the community and voluntary sector. I met its representatives in January and discussed what the sector can do to provide additional residential care places. I agree with the Deputy on foster care. That is why we have taken significant steps this year to suppo…

The Deputy asked quite a few questions. In terms of engagement with the sector, I have met representatives of the Irish Foster Care Association, IFCA, the representative body for foster carers, and also of Movement for Change, which is a new representative body, several times and discussed the increase in funding. I met both of those organisations after the budget as well. In terms of bringing the wider sector together and facing the challenge of overreliance on SEAs, the Children's Rights Alliance, in the latter p…

The Minister of State has allowed me to come in on this. I reiterate our desire to get the optional protocol signed before the end of the Government's term. We recognise there are challenges. There is existing domestic legislation that is incompatible with the protocol and must be changed, just as we got the legislation on assisted decision-making changed. We have scoped out the matter and we have a report showing where the issues are. I hope to bring that report to the Cabinet very soon. We will then set up an int…

Between those fleeing Ukraine and international protection applicants, my Department is now providing accommodation for more than 100,000 people. As I have said before, this is the largest humanitarian response the State has ever undertaken. My Department is utilising a wide range of accommodation options to provide shelter for a record number of international protection applicants. More than 200 accommodation locations across 26 counties have been utilised since January 2022. The accommodation of international pro…

When new accommodation is opened for Ukrainians or international protection applicants, the community engagement team, through my Department, engages with local representatives and statutory services. The Deputy mentioned education. When the war in Ukraine broke out, the Department of Education created regional education and language teams, REALT, throughout all of the education and training boards. These teams allow for the identification of where there are places in primary and secondary schools and where there a…

My colleagues across the Government and I are acutely conscious of the pressures caused by our response to the war, but I would put it to the Deputy that it is at times of war, conflict and other pressures that countries have to dig deep. Irish people across our society have done that.

Communities have rallied to support Ukrainians and international protection applicants. Having met Ukrainians, international protection applicants and the communities that support them, I am conscious of how aware those communities are of the importance of their role and of how unique the challenge we are facing is. It is the largest movement of people across the European Continent since the Second World War. It has caused challenges and pressures, but we will manage those and make changes to the system to accommod…

The Deputy is seeking information about companies that have been contracted by Tusla to provide emergency accommodation to children in care in each of the past ten years and to date in 2024. I understand that the information up to the first half of 2023 was released to the Deputy in response to Question No. 1362 of 11 September. The Deputy will be aware from that response that a total of 27 companies were contracted by Tusla between 2013 and the end of June 2023 in order to provide care for children in special emer…

I do not believe I have, but I can clarify that point for the Deputy and revert to him. The Deputy stated that I did not listen or engage. When he raised a question about this matter during my previous oral questions, I was prepared for it because of its importance, but the Deputy was not present. It is important that I put that point on the record. As to what we are doing about this issue, I had extensive engagement with Tusla, An Garda Síochána, the special rapporteur on child protection and the Ombudsman for Chi…

I met the community and voluntary providers of residential care in January and discussed these issues in detail with them in terms of funding. I have set out in detail the additional funding I have been providing to Tusla in order that it can enact its residential care strategy and can put additional beds into the Tusla sector so we can reduce our reliance on special emergency arrangements. I will look at whether I served on the Fingal joint policing committee with this individual. It is a committee of about 40 ind…

It is a political charge and the Deputy is very good at that. He is very good at the Facebook moment. No doubt, the video has been clipped already. But ultimately I can set out in real detail the engagements I have had with the Ombudsman for Children, An Garda Síochána and Tusla to ensure the safety of children in care.

Last week, I was pleased to announce an €18 million capital grant scheme for the early learning and childcare sector. The building blocks capacity expansion grant scheme is part of the wider building blocks capital programme for this sector under the national development plan. The scheme will provide capital grants for early learning and childcare services to expand their existing capacity by means of internal renovations and reconfigurations. The primary focus of the scheme is to increase capacity in the between o…

It is slightly separate to core funding. When you apply you have to state if your weekly fee for full time or part time are above the figures I cited. If they are, you are ineligible to apply. We estimate that approximately 3% of services have weekly fees above those numbers. It is a small number. It is a balance. We want to increase capacity. However, if we are increasing capacity in services to rates we generally believe are unaffordable that is probably not the best investment of State money. The capital program…

The building blocks programme was in three parts. Last year, in the first part, the grants available were for those upgrades. We had €9 million available for those upgrades. This year, our focus is on the expansion of existing services, so the grants available this year are to expand existing services. We have €18 million for that. In 2025, the grants available will be for new services. I do not have the final line of sight on that, but I think that will be in excess of €20 million. We are looking at it in steps. T…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 96, 121 and 141 together. As of 23 February, the State is providing accommodation to more than 27,400 international protection, IP, arrivals. In tandem with this, approximately 104,000 Ukrainian nationals have been granted temporary protection orders with more than 70% residing in accommodation provided by the State. In short, the State is under extreme pressure to provide accommodation. In this context, there is very clear recognition across the House that the underlying assumption…

Is Deputy Farrell all right?

They include granting of driving licences to international protection applicants and allowing them to open bank accounts. They are very simple things but they are also very important. Obviously, reducing the period within which someone can apply for work to six months is a very important step. In terms of supports, we have done a significant amount of work with the counselling in primary care services, CPCs. My Department has funded CPCs across the country to be able to engage directly with families and children, p…

The Deputy should hold on. We are providing those basics that he mentioned to more than 100,000 people.