Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will discuss the budgetary issues first. We are bringing together the budgets of the HSE child and family services, the National Education Welfare Board and the Family Support Agency. We are examining the most effective use of resources possible in this context. Over the past two years successful progress has been made on budgetary management. Undoubtedly we have seen this. Gordon Jeyes has led a change process on better management at national level but it is very challenging. I would like to point out some of the challenges which the sector for which I have responsibility is facing. We have an increasing population which creates a natural increase in demand, whether for fostering which Deputy McLellan spoke about, or because more children are coming into care. Our work on alerting the public to interrupt and report child abuse means we have more referrals which must be dealt with. The demographics are very challenging and put increasing demands on the services.

Just as we need more classrooms for children going to primary schools, we must consider the needs of those under six and the extra demands and services required by that cohort while making budgetary allowances to ensure we can respond in the way we need to. There are clear pressures on the agency and there will be extra referrals, and I am sure Senator Crown would say the same of hospital services. The issue goes across all sectors and there are increasing demands with associated monetary implications.

We have seen the figures for child protection referrals increasing and there is more awareness of neglect. There have been major increases in referrals of sexual abuse. That is what the services must deal with but at the same time we are - rightly - being expected to provide after-care for when people young people reach 18. There are demands for an out-of-hours services and a number of other pressures. If more money was available, those kinds of services should get greater support and there is no question otherwise.

There is a particular issue related to staffing, and social workers are exempt from the moratorium. We have very high numbers on maternity leave, with one team recently experiencing a particularly high number on such leave that reduced its complement to below 60%. If a person is on maternity leave, she stays on the books so it is not seen as a vacancy but it creates significant pressure. I am trying to examine how we can best deal with that in the services. A case management review is under way to see if social workers are expected to carry more cases than they ought to, and they are currently carrying very complex cases. I return to a point I often make in that it is not simply about more social workers being needed, although that may be the case, and it is equally about working with voluntary groups and co-ordinating work between those and the statutory groups to ensure we are using all the resources.

An improving economic position and better Government finances would mean we could begin to consider the resourcing of extra demands. We are all facing a difficult budget in the face of those demands, and I cannot say how well we will be able to respond to those demands in each case. The budget for the agency was maintained last year and the year before - there was a slight increase in fact - and I and the board members would much prefer that we would not start the work in a deficit. I will work to that end. We are trying to prioritise these issues, as a Government, in a scenario where there is great pressure on public finances.

We have raised the issue of co-ordinating services to combat early school leaving. The Senator mentioned a particular situation in Cork and we will follow up to see what is the precise difficulty. The idea of the new child and family agency is to bring together everybody who works, for example, on early school leaving. That would include education welfare personnel, who deal particularly with school completion. The statistics for school attendance in Ireland are very good and improving dramatically at primary and secondary levels. There is a cohort of young people who leave school early and we need to focus resources on them. That is the idea of bringing the three agencies together.

Deputy Fitzpatrick asked about the campaign we are running with the Department of Health. On 21 October, a three year new media campaign will be launched by me and the Minister for Health that will try to help parents deal with the obesity issue. It will include tips on preventing children becoming overweight. There are many other initiatives under way and just yesterday I met somebody interested in bringing our major sporting organisations together to launch a new initiative targeted at getting children more active, which is another important issue. The campaign is a joint initiative between safefood, the Department of Health, the HSE and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. We will work with all the relevant groups to ensure the information gets out but a whole-of-government approach is needed.

We are launching the early years expert group report today and if we want to deal with the adult or later childhood problems of obesity, the best method to use is early intervention. If we can target resources at children, we can look to prevent problems from emerging. By age three, 25% of children are overweight or obese, so we need to get in at a very early stage to interrupt the cycle of obesity.

Deputy Troy asked if I was satisfied with regard to the case in Limerick. The answer is obvious and of course I am not satisfied when that is the position for any young child who needs proper placement. The Government is committed to resources in Oberstown and that is why we are recruiting staff and putting in extra beds. We also need to consider why there has been an increase in children being referred for detention and what we can do at a preventative stage. I have highlighted the pressures on social workers and preventative services but we are working to get better co-ordination. We also have the review of case loads, and once that is done, we will be in a position to see precisely what is the situation with social workers.

I have already spoken to people in the Department of Justice and Equality about focusing on children in direct provision and I am happy to meet people about the issue. We are trying to ensure they attend the early childhood care and education scheme and get support when they are three and four. I have asked the Department of Justice and Equality to collect more information about the children in direct provision, and we need to understand more precisely their experience and what is happening to them. Queries regarding child protection arose yesterday and referrals are made in the normal way from direct provision to the social work services.

I have not gone for sectoral representation with the board of the agency and I will not do so as we need a board with skills to address the issues of setting up a new agency. I want people with experience in family resource centres and family support. For example, one of the people appointed to the board worked for 11 years in a family resource centre and such a person can represent the experience and interests of that sector. Deputy McLellan asked about fostering and in Ireland, and the fostering allowance has been exempt from family income when assessments are made for a range of services. It would appear that some agencies or organisations are now seeking to have it included, and I will try to ensure there is a national approach and that it is excluded from an assessment of means so the money can go directly to the needs of children being fostered. I will have discussions about that. The Deputy also mentioned an individual case and I would be happy to have discussions with her about it.