Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am trying to give the Minister every opportunity to clarify the situation. Allow me to be blunt. If a service is sanctioned for a child but the professional with the requisite skills to provide the service is not paid for that in a timely manner because he or she is a private provider, that is a serious issue for the service in general. If Tusla is now seeking court directions, I question the efficacy of its doing so in respect of interventions for individual families because that places a massive onus on the taxpayer in terms of the legal costs inherent in that process. It is particularly questionable if it has already been determined from professional advice that the child should benefit from very specific services. There is something wrong here and we need to lift the lid on it and get more transparency. The other issue I raised regards the reason for Tusla centralising all procurement services.