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

I will come back to that because we do have an answer. I appreciate the Deputy's question about the HIQA reports. Along with my officials, I have on occasion met with HIQA to listen to its general approach regarding working with Tusla. As the Deputy is aware, HIQA reports include an action plan provided by Tusla to respond to the report. This is accepted by HIQA. Usually when those reports come out, Tusla's response is that certain standards have been met, others have not, action plans have been recommended and we are putting in place additional resources to ensure that these actions can be implemented if additional resources are required. Certainly additional resources are being provided for the record keeping of the NCCIS, ten of whose regional centres are already piloting this new approach. It has indicated that by June or mid-year, all of the regions will have that new information system working, which will impact significantly the sharing and recording of information and the ability to respond more quickly. This is not in defence per se of Tusla but until that is in place, there will be some things that HIQA will continue to say to the agency that will be difficult to respond to as quickly compared what might happen once it is in place. Once it is in place, we anticipate significant changes in that regard and that standards will be met. Additional resources are being provided for family support and prevention services as well as the recruitment work about which we have spoken. The Deputy asked a question about policy and practice. Policy and practice are being improved through the roll-out of new practices called Signs of Safety, which will assist in the consistency and quality of the response. I had the opportunity to work with some of the people in Tusla or at least participate in a conference where they looked at the approach they developed, training in terms of their workforce and Signs of Safety and the research that underpins to ensure that this was a model of best practice to continue the work they are doing.

Deputy Mitchell asked about the timeframe. As I have already said, all urgent cases are seen immediately. As the Deputy may be aware, cases are assessed in terms of priority - high, medium and low - particularly concerning the child's need for protection and support. The length of time is three months, having made those points about any urgent cases being seen immediately and assessment in terms of a case's priority.