Mr. Gordon Jeyes:

There was a later question which I will answer now. I can understand the anxiety the delay has caused. Regarding Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin's question, I am as impatient as anybody else. While I want the transition to take place quickly and to be able to reassure family resource centres and the voluntary sector, I also want to get it right. I want to ensure that if I am to be held accountable, I know how much I am spending, when I am spending it and what I am spending it on. I want to ensure I have good reports to provide proper accountability to Ministers and the people's representatives. There are issues primarily around disaggregation. The services have never been broken into their component parts. We must have efficient reporting systems in place to provide for appropriate financial control before we can run the system. That is the primary issue.

To return to Deputy Robert Troy's questions, there was no budget reduction in 2012. The budget we have in 2013 is the same as the budget we had for 2012. That is a clear difference from the very significant reductions faced in the rest of the health service. It shows that the Government prioritises children's services. The issue was that there was still some over-expenditure. As with every other service, we have used our clear lines of accountability and capacity for budgetary flexibility. We must live within our means and provide value for money for taxpayers.

I take every opportunity to reassure family resource centres. While I am not going to tell them there will be no changes, any changes will be about ensuring that each family resource centre is as good as the best one. Centres should build on the considerable strengths of the best examples and from a menu of activity that is proven to work. Centres should be taking the agenda forward in a way that meets the needs of the community. I have no intention of establishing child protection centres. It is about the engagement and consent of the community and the strengths that are needed there. We cannot do this alone and without the excellent work of family resource centres, our chances of success would be severely diminished.

Deputy Robert Troy also raised the question of early intervention. It is an interesting term as it can have so many different meanings. Sometimes it means a request not to spend on my projects but on others. We should certainly have systems in place which enable us to intervene at the earliest possible time that makes sense and is not intrusive. That can come through the way society as a whole works. The best early intervention to protect a child at school is to ensure he or she is not excluded and attends in the first place. The best schools are inclusive schools. The best health services are responsive health services such as the nursery I visited in north Dublin. There, the speech and language therapist and public health nurses take their checks to the nursery. That should be standard practice. We should not say "two strikes" and if you do not turn up, you are out and will not get an appointment. Early intervention encompasses engaged communities which are respectful of the contribution children make. How often in our debates on children are we fearful for our own children and frightened of everybody else's? We need responsible citizens. Of course, we also need, within our budget, to have projects which support that activity.

We commission in excess of €100 million, which is almost 20% of the budget, from the voluntary and community sector. These are our partners who can reach communities in a way the social work brand cannot. I can only speak about the management structure, which I have attempted to streamline and strengthen accountability. The board will not be similar to the HSE but governance matters are more for the Government than for me, and they will become clear when the legislation comes before the Dáil.

Staffing discussions continue with IMPACT in a very constructive way. During the years of financial difficulty a great number of ad hocarrangements have been put in place so the notion that all HR issues will be resolved immediately is fanciful. Discussions with IMPACT have been very constructive and respectful, and I fully expect a very good framework agreement to be reached shortly, which will take us into the future.