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

I welcome the Minister and her team and thank them for their presentations. I also apologise on behalf of Deputy Ó Caoláin who unfortunately could not attend. He asked me to substitute for him this evening.

The backdrop of the Estimates has been revealed, at least in part, by the latest "What's Left" tracker produced by the Irish League of Credit Unions and published today. It showed that around 1.6 million people have €100 or less at the end of the month once all of the bills have been paid. The figure has dropped by more than 100,000 people when compared with last September's figure, which is welcome. None the less it is a very large number. The group includes people who have less than €100 and simply cannot make ends meet. Issues of income inequality and poverty, particularly child poverty, continue to play a significant role in determining the demand on services provided by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. There is a strong relationship between inequality levels and demand on services. It would be remiss of me not to raise this broader point at the outset. The mantra goes "We are where we are", but I must add that we are where we are for a reason. Broader economic conditions have, in real terms, affected the Department's budget just it has for every other Department. Vital supports and interventions that have a real and meaningful impact on the lives and outcomes for some of the most vulnerable people in our society will be diminished. This is the reality. However, we are expected to be grateful they have not diminished by more.

I have some queries on individual subheads that I will raise under questions. At this point I note that the 2014 gross funding allocation for the provision of services under Vote 40 is €997.154 million and is up from €439.106 million last year.

In the meantime, there has been considerable reorganisation in the Department, including with the establishment of the Child and Family Agency. I would like to get a sense of the real net gain or loss, as the case may be, to the overall budget for child services and if assurances could be provided that adequate funding will be available for the new Child and Family Agency and that it is not carrying forward any HSE debt. This would be most desirable.

I wish the Minister, her officials and those with new responsibilities in the Child and Family Agency the very best in the year ahead. I understand the Minister is doing her best in very difficult circumstances. It is very important work.