Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If Tusla is as successful as the catchphrase he quoted was in that general election for that particular party, we would be doing okay. I thank Mr. Jeyes and his colleagues for coming before us today and for giving us a breakdown of the plans and proposals and some of the work that has been ongoing in Tusla since its formation. I am not going to make any comments except to ask a few questions, which the witnesses will hopefully be able to answer.

Mr. Jeyes is on record in the past as having said Tusla was underfunded for the services it is required to provide. Does he consider the additional €38 million that has been secured in budget 2016 to be adequate not simply to stand still but to provide the services Tusla was established to provide? Bearing in mind that the Children First legislation and the aftercare legislation has since gone through the Dáil, placing additional statutory obligations on the agency, does he regard the €38 million as adequate? In terms of one of his core obligations, when Tusla was established, one cited obligation was to investigate all child protection and abuse claims in a timely manner. Just last month, the new Ombudsman for Children revealed serious deficiencies in the child protection and care system administered by Tusla. Mr. Muldoon found that Tusla managed to deal with just one fifth of all reports of child abuse in a timely manner last year. Can Mr. Jeyes comment on that? Can he indicate how many files remain unassessed at present? Has he a full complement of social workers? Can he confirm that he will be in a position in future to ensure that all referrals will be assessed in a timely manner?

Mr. Jeyes came before us earlier in this year to discuss a particular problem regarding unassessed files in the Laois-Offaly region. Perhaps he might use today to update us on where that investigation stands. At the time, he highlighted the absence of an appropriate IT system for Tusla. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think he said it was still operating under the IT system of the HSE, perhaps through a service-level agreement. In his report today he talks about a new IT system on a pilot basis. Perhaps he could update us on where that stands.

Regarding early years inspections, Mr. Jeyes said he now has inspectors to inspect early years settings across all geographical locations. Can he confirm under what process these inspections are being carried out? Following the "Prime Time" exposé a few years ago, a new registration system was to be established and new regulations were to be published. That still has not happened. Perhaps he could update us on what regulations the inspections are being carried out under and why it is that, almost three years later, the promised regulations have not been published and the new registration process has not been implemented across all regions. I am told that it may be implemented on a voluntary basis by some of the regions, but perhaps he could update us on that.

He spoke about some of the grants Tusla pays out to various schemes, such as the family resource centres, the school completion programme, domestic violence services and other such services. The evidence over the last few years is that there seems to be a reduction in the emphasis placed by Mr. Jeyes's organisation on the good works being carried out by these organisations. I am thinking of the family resource centres. I met with a delegation from family resource centres in the summer gone by and one person described the funding cuts over the last three years as simply unbearable. They removed their capacity to deal with what they were established to do, namely, early intervention and preventing a crisis occurring in family settings. They described waiting for their funding announcement as being like having an axe over one's head because one never quite knows what is going to happen.