Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First, I would like to say how enormously important is the role that foster carers play. I have said at previous hearings that our care system would effectively collapse without foster carers. We are all grateful to them and to EPIC, which is an excellent organisation. I have had some engagement with it.

I have some questions on a few different topics. The presentation touched on the difference between the costs in the provision of public and private fostering agencies. There could be two things going on there, or it could be somewhere in the middle. Is it that it is a wasteful expense and, perhaps, that we are spending too much on these private agencies, is it the case that we are under-investing in the publicly-provided fostering agencies or is it somewhere in the middle? This would help to get a sense of approximately what it is we should be spending or what would be appropriate. I would imagine there is an element of under-investment at the very least.

The IFCA presentation referred to modifications to homes, which is an interesting point. Is this along the lines of converting a garage adjacent to the home to accommodate partially independent living? This is an interesting proposal and would probably not require a huge amount to bring such a policy back into operation.

The foster care committees are obviously a big part of the entire regime. There are major obligations under section 7 of the Child Care Act 1991. It came across in both presentations that perhaps individual foster carers do not feel they have the kind of support that they necessarily need and that they could go for significant periods without being inspected or visited by foster care committees. Do our guests feel that the foster care committees are meeting their statutory obligations, is the regime that is in place adequate and do the people on those committees have sufficient training and qualifications to allow them to fulfil their obligations? It seems that this is a potential weakness in the system.

I agree with EPIC. I would very much support the idea that children under the age of 12 should not be in residential care. That is not appropriate.

My final two points relate to aftercare and regulation. Would the witnesses have a view in respect of the requirement that someone who is leaving care would have to be in full-time education in order to receive aftercare and aftercare payment? There seems to be a very sharp cut-off point for a person who, hopefully, would have been receiving a substantial amount of support and then, on reaching a particular a birthday after, he or she receives very little support. This is an issue.

My other point comes off the back of the previous set of hearings on this topic with HIQA. The latter certainly seems to feel that the area of fostering requires regulation, an issue which is outstanding. It has restricted HIQA's ability to escalate matters where it felt there was risk and to follow up on risks. Perhaps the witnesses could comment on this. I am mindful of the fact that, obviously, it is important to ensure that children are safeguarded and the highest possible standards but that balance is also in place. We want regulation to be such that it does not totally discourage people from entering into fostering, particularly as it is such an important function.