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

It is in subsection (3), as amended. That is the amendment I brought forward previously. It is the one that references family support and preventative services. I am not bringing forward the specific format which applied previously to the Family Support Agency - for example, the format of grant giving and the detailed description of that, which is outlined if one looks at the Family Support Agency Act. I am not transferring that, but rather the broad function of family support, without specifying it in the way it is specified in the Family Support Agency Act. I am bringing the work of family support to the functions of the agency but I am not prescribing it in the kind of detail that is in the Family Support Agency Act. Obviously, I had to deal with some of the technical issues with regard to the transfer, but that is the meaning of what we are doing.

Family support will be under the general functions of the agency as a key function, but it is not given that very detailed prescription there already. If one looks at the Family Support Agency Act, one will see there is a lot of spelling out in detail in regard to particular grants. I am not transferring that but rather putting in the general provision, which is more appropriate. The Family Support Agency Act was enacted in 2001 and it is very prescriptive in terms of who gets what grants and in what areas. Instead of doing that, I have introduced an amendment that outlines that family support is key to the new agency, which I think is more appropriate to the work of the agency and the kind of developments we have seen in family support.