Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Okay. Deputy Ó Laoghaire asked about adoption legislation. I know Deputy O'Sullivan and all the members of the committee have an interest in this. I remind them that the Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016 was the first Bill to be brought into this Dáil for Second Stage debate. At that time, it may have seemed like we would have a long wait for the publication of the adoption (information and tracing) Bill. I worked extremely closely with the officials in my Department and the Office of the Attorney General to make the information and tracing Bill a priority. As a result, we are now in a position to say the Bill will be published this month. That is the first thing I want to say in response to the question Deputy Ó Laoghaire asked earlier. We are now in a different place in terms of timing. We might have to approach the issue differently if we were not so close to publication.

It is important to mention that as members are aware, both Bills deal with different although related issues. The information and tracing Bill contains a significant scheme that will help adopted people to trace their origins. I do not think the provisions of that Bill could or should be taken merely as amendments to the Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016 itself. It is too long and too important for that. A great deal of work will remain to be done as part of this process even after the information and tracing Bill is published. I looking forward to teasing out the provisions of the Bill and any amendments that may be proposed to it with the members of this committee. As I have said, I am committed to publishing it as quickly as possible.

It will be published before the end of this month. From a legislative perspective, it would probably do more justice to that second, more extensive complicated Bill, for which we have been waiting for so long, to keep them separate.

On unallocated cases, as we are all aware, Tusla has set a target to reduce the number of cases by 60% by the end of 2016. The target is set but demand can go up and down. That influences the way the target can ultimately be met. That is why is it is important to take a look at the issue of how it is we are moving towards that target, even with the ways in which more people come into the system. For example, a case needs to be opened and it is either allocated or not allocated. More social workers are being recruited but, at the same time, the demand issue impacts the target. With all of that, Tusla identified a 60% reduction with confidence. There has been an ongoing downward trend, regardless of all the dynamism that is going on from Tusla’s perspective in terms of the reduction of the number of unallocated cases. Between January and the end of July, it went down by 25%. Since the establishment of Tusla on January 2014, the number of unallocated cases has decreased by 48%. The trend is downward, no matter which way one looks at the figures.