Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and her officials to the meeting and thank the Minister for her responses thus far.

The Minister stated in respect of children in direct provision that they should be afforded the same rights as their counterparts in the wider community. Does she accept that direct provision accommodation is not suitable for children? On foster care services, I am exceptionally concerned about the findings about the foster care services in Dublin north west. This is the third such report since September 2009. It would appear not a lot has changed since then. While I appreciate and welcome that the Minister has put an action plan in place I am concerned that senior management in the Dublin north west area are not being held to account. While I am familiar with HIQA's inspection methodology, I believe that when it comes to management of the north-west area more needs to be done as a matter of urgency. How does the Minister propose to address this?

On cuts to youth services, I was not happy with the Minister's response in this regard. The Minister informed us that funding of €53.173 million has been provided by her Department for the provision of youth services. However, she later stated that there will be a 10% reduction in 2013 on funding for 2012. Can the Minister elaborate further on that point? Can I take it from this that the Department has decided to cut funding to youth services that are community-based? Does the Minister plan to engage in talks with SIPTU, which represents a significant section of workers in this sector?