Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The referendum covers three areas, the first being a more inclusive definition of the family to ensure the up to 43,000 children born outside marriage in 2022 are finally recognised by our Constitution and have a sense of full inclusion. It is a very children-focused amendment in that context and it takes within its compass new family formations of recent times. Second, it deals with the role of women in society through the deletion of an article and its replacement, and in the replacement to recognise care. The fundamental issue of care provision is one that the Oireachtas and Government quite correctly have to deal with in terms of the allocation and prioritisation of resources.

The budget of Tusla has increased very significantly over recent years, as have the budgets of a range of other services. In childcare, for example, resources have vastly increased. Fees have been reduced to try to alleviate the pressure on families, including parents, in respect of the care of their children. DEIS programmes, programmes in disadvantaged schools and intervention programmes, including multidisciplinary intervention programmes, have also seen increases.

On children referred to Tusla, it is very sad to note the background issues and challenges families and certain parents have such that children are referred to either foster care or Tusla. Many of these cases are extremely complex, as the Deputy would have to acknowledge. To use words like “ineptitude” is too judgmental. In many instances, cases involve teenagers, who could be 14 or 15, in State services. There is a variety of State services and the people who work in them talk about the children’s complex backgrounds. When the Deputy uses the phrase that children are lost, it is almost as if he is saying it is Tusla’s fault. It is not fair to put it as baldly and simply as that.

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