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

I am very happy to be here to discuss my Department’s 2017 Estimate. I have a passion for the well-being of all our children and I hope the work we do together will enable and ensure that, ultimately, none of our children will be othered in our State.

The Revised Estimate for my Department for 2017 provides a gross funding provision of €1.311 billion. This represents an increase of €173 million, or 16%, over the 2016 allocation. This is a significant investment of taxpayers money and I am very grateful for the trust and confidence being shown towards me and my Department as we lead on our objective to improve the outcomes for children and young people in Ireland in that some of their dreams will come true, they will be loved, cared for, protected and safe. I remain fully committed to ensuring the full delivery of this Government’s programme for Government commitments. I want to see an Ireland where the rights of all children and young people are respected, protected, fulfilled, where their voices are heard and where they are supported to realise their maximum potential now and in the future. I remember at this moment the four year old boy I met in a community centre in Togher, County Cork, and Deputy Ó Laoghaire was with me there. I spent quite a bit of time with the child in order to enable him to speak with me, getting down on my knees and having a chat with him. I am also remembering the mother I met in one of Ireland's top legal firms when I went there to speak in the context of how to influence the influencers. She spoke of how proud she was of her eight year old trans boy.

My Department, and its agencies, have a complex range of policy, legislation and services to deliver on. Examples of this range from: initiatives to improve the level and quality of early childhood care and education; providing for the needs of children and young people in the care of the State; providing services to protect children against child abuse and to provide help and support to children and their families when that, unfortunately, happens; providing adoption services and; listening to children, learning from them, and finding out what works when we look to improve their lives. We listened to young people when we gathered some together to hear about what Brexit means for them. The Acting Chairman, Deputy Rabbitte, Deputy Ó Laoghaire and other public representatives were present.

As I noted, I have received a significant increase in funding in 2017 for which I am very grateful. This funding will allow for a range of key service developments. The most significant in terms of the level of increased funding relates to the provision of an additional €120 million for early years care and education services. The additional funding will be directed towards a suite of measures to improve the affordability, accessibility and quality of child care. That brings the total allocation for early years child care and education to €465 million, accounting for nearly 36% of my Department's overall allocation. That level of funding allows for the extension of the ECCE scheme into a second year and the further full roll-out of the access and inclusion model. Just the other day when we finally acknowledged and recognised the ethnicity of Travellers I had a long conversation with my assistant secretary, Bernie McNally, on how to ensure the access and inclusion model is also about including Travellers. We also aim to provide more targeted child care subsidisation for lower income families as a first step and; to provide for universal subsidisation towards the cost of care for all children aged from six months to three years who are using regulated child care. I met the early years forum we have established the other day and we looked especially at childminders in that regard. I am also conscious that we need to assist making the child care sector more sustainable and some of the additional funding in 2017 will be used to acknowledge non-contact time required to deliver high-quality services. It is an initial important step in terms of doing that kind of work to ensure sustainability but some funding has also been provided to enhance inspections and registration schemes to ensure services are delivered in a safe, supportive and caring environment.

I also welcome an additional investment of €37 million for Tusla in 2017. Tusla now has an annual allocation of some €713 million which, I am confident, allows it develop as a sustainable organisation which will standardise, streamline and improve its services to children and families. As Members well know, this agency provides services for some of the most vulnerable children and families in the State. The extra funding in 2017 will allow it to further alleviate service pressures in respect of matters such as unallocated caseloads, private residential and foster care and services relating to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It will also allow Tusla to continue to prepare for the introduction of mandatory reporting under Children First later this year.

As we all know, it has been a challenging time for Tusla. One of the challenges it continues to face is the bringing together of various cultures and legacies from the HSE, the National Educational Welfare Board, NEWB, and the Family Support Agency, FSA, when it came together to establish itself and move forward with the intention and ambition to provide the best care and protection for children. I had a recent meeting with the board in Cork to discuss the challenges and the ways in which it has reassured me that it will do all that it can to meet the ambition both in its vision and mission and also in its upcoming business plan for 2017.

The significant additional resources secured for 2017 will allow my Department and its agencies build on the good work by all involved in working with children and families to deliver on the Government's commitment to fundamentally reform the delivery of services. As far as I, as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, am concerned, in terms of delivering on the Government's commitment and the reform of services I can do it better with the input, criticism, constructive suggestions and support of committee members.