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

I am pleased to discuss my Department’s Revised Estimate for 2019 which provides for a taxpayers’ investment of €1.5 billion, which represents an increase of just under €107 million, or 8%, on the allocation for 2018, following the Supplementary Estimate in December. As a result, my Department will spend €1.478 billion in current expenditure and €32 million in capital expenditure during 2019. Approximately half of the Vote is targeted towards public services that protect children and provide for their welfare. Another significant portion is provided to continue our journey to build an accessible, affordable and high quality early learning and care system.

In addition to these areas, my Department’s Revised Estimate for 2019 contains a provision of almost €63.6 million for youth services. These resources will fund youth services throughout the country, including services for those at risk of disadvantage, and help to address some of the remaining challenges faced by LGBTI+ young people. The allocation for youth services represents an increase in funding of €3.4 million, or just under 6%, on the allocation for 2018.

Other key items of expenditure include €26 million to meet the costs of the Irish Youth Justice Service, including the operational costs of the Oberstown Children Detention Campus; €19 million to meet the operational costs of my Department; €9.5 million for prevention and early intervention programmes which now include the area-based childhood programme and the prevention, partnership and family support programme; €7 million for the intervention programme for children and young people; €5 million for the Adoption Authority of Ireland; €4 million for the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes; and just under €3 million for the Office of the Ombudsman for Children. The prevention and early intervention programmes are now fully funded by my Department following the completion of the welcome contributions made by Atlantic Philanthropies in previous years.

The select committee will be aware that the single biggest item of expenditure in my Department’s Vote is the budget of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. I am pleased to confirm that Tusla will receive additional funding of €31 million in 2019, which will bring its overall allocation to €785 million, which represents an increase of 4% on the allocation for 2018. When Tusla was transferred out of the HSE in 2014 to become a statutory agency in its own right, its budget allocation was €609 million. In the five years since its establishment funding has been increased by 29% to its 2019 level of €785 million. In addition, I am making a further €3 million available to it from my Department during 2019 to fund specific developments in the provision of support for family resource centres and to deal with domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. This level of investment underlines my commitment to ensuring Tusla is properly resourced to meet its mission statement in protecting and supporting the most vulnerable children, young people and families. With this level of investment, there is a strong onus on it to deliver on its ambitious business plan for 2019. I will work closely with the new chairperson of Tusla, the interim CEO and his management team to achieve the outcomes we all want to see from this year’s investment.

On early learning and care services, the international evidence is clear that investment in children during their early years results in long-term gains for them, their families, the economy and society in general. I am particularly proud of the increased resources being made available in 2019 for childcare services which we now call early learning and care services. I am on record as acknowledging that the radical transformation we want to see in the sector cannot be achieved in one, two or even three budgets. I have always said it will take time to correct decades of under-investment. As members of the committee will recall, I received additional funding in 2018 for childcare services by way of a Supplementary Estimate which brought funding levels to more than €500 million for the first time. The additional €59 million to be provided in 2019 brings funding for early learning and care services to just under €575 million. Children, parents and providers are all set to benefit.

The increased resources will allow me to continue to meet the growing demand for universal and targeted supports and enable me to widen the thresholds under the new affordable childcare scheme that I will introduce later this year. Under the scheme’s original policy proposals, income-based subsidies would have been available to all families with a net annual income of up to €47,500. This threshold will now increase by 26% to cover all families with a net annual income of up to €60,000. The scheme’s lower income thresholds have also been adjusted, meaning that maximum subsidy rates will be paid to all families with a net annual income of up to €26,000, whereas the previous proposed threshold stood at €22,700. The increased thresholds will mean that thousands of more families will benefit from the scheme once it is launched at the end of the year and see the cost of early leaning and care services tangibly reduce, resulting in a real impact.

I am planning the phased regulation of school-age childcare services and have set side an additional €450,000 for the Tusla early years inspectorate to enable it to begin to register services with effect from 18 February. This will enable school-age childcare services to access the affordable childcare scheme, help to support children’s safety and well-being and assist in the provision of new school-age childcare places, thus improving parental choice and supporting female labour market activation. Our investment in early learning and care services will help to lay the ground for the exciting opportunities presented by the recently published First 5, A Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families. First 5 will provide every child with a good, strong and equal start and represents a whole-of-government approach, with the objective of streamlining and improving parenting supports provided by a range of Departments and State agencies.

I am pursuing some important legislation as a matter of priority. I recently announced my intention to table some important amendments to the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 which was passed on Second Stage in the Seanad some time ago. We are also finalising the text of a Bill to amend the Children Act 2001 that will form the basis for major reform of the guardian ad litemsystem. I know that the select committee shares my ambition to have these important Bills enacted as soon as possible.

The significant increase in resources in my Department’s Vote for 2019 brings great opportunities for the targeted development and improvement of services. I will work closely with Tusla, the early learning and care sector, my Department and all stakeholders across the wide range of services provided to achieve the best possible outcomes and value for money we can achieve. We have made good progress in recent years and I am determined to press ahead with the agenda I have set out.