Ms Bernie McNally:

This issue certainly spills into the scheme. We will fund the full-time care in services of certain children, often Tusla referrals who may come to us via public health nurses or from elsewhere. While the purpose of the scheme is to cater for parents who are working or in training, where a parent or both parents may be at home, there is another allowance of 15 hours of subsidisation, as opposed to the full 40 hours. The policy allows for 15 hours of subsidisation to meet child development needs. While I accept that this is less than that available under some of the other schemes, careful consideration was given to this issue. While we know that 15 hours of care in services is good for children, there is less evidence in respect of longer hours. From a policy perspective, we believed it was in the best interests of children to provide for 15 hours of care. As I indicated, however, exceptions apply and Tusla, the sponsor, can support the Department to provide services for a child where public health nurses, social workers or others believe he or she requires such support for child protection or child welfare reasons.