Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the Estimates, are the initial supports for Tusla adequate due to Covid? I attended the meeting of the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response where we heard testimonies by experts and witnesses that there had been an increase in domestic violence, among other things. In normal times, children from homes experiencing domestic violence found a safe haven in school but they did not attend school during the Covid lockdown. More children also contacted Childline during that time and I believe that is increasing as we speak. Domestic violence has a knock-on effect in terms of children's mental health. Jigsaw has stated it has been inundated with requests for its services. The waiting list for the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, has not improved and increased in many cases.

Children have been adversely impacted by Covid, a lot of which has not been mentioned. Children have been unable to deal with the loss of their loved ones, loss of structure, loss of their community and sports, which has had a negative impact on their mental health as well.

The following issue could not have been included in the Estimates as it only recently developed. I was not going to raise it but the Minister mentioned that responsibility for disability services would be transferred from the HSE to his Department in the future, if I have heard him right. With the return of services at the St. John of God Home to the HSE, is it planned to transfer them to the Minister's Department in the future? I do not expect him to answer me now. I asked the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, and the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, the same question in the Dáil. I suggest that the transfer is considered because 8,000 people avail of the services, many of whom are children, and many people work in that home so all of them will be adversely affected.

As Deputy Costello has mentioned, there are care plans. Over the years I have worked in services where care plans have been really good when followed through but not if they became box ticking indicators. Care plans are not worth the paper they are written on if they are required to secure funding. Someone should be made responsible for ensuring that any care plan for children is followed from start to finish as that would be a better indicator rather than just producing a care plan.