Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. I am grateful to my colleagues here for their assistance in compiling the detailed briefing for both myself and the committee. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Revised Estimates for my Department for 2022, including that of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. As members will have seen from the briefing material provided to them last week, my Department is projected to spend €2.074 billion on current expenditure and €33 million on capital expenditure during 2022. This represents an increase of €189 million or 10% over the 2021 Revised Estimate. In addition, my Department has a further €3.2 million allocation for capital carryover.

The 2022 allocation covers financial provision for a range of key services in respect of children and young people, such as Tusla, early years and youth services. There are also allocations in other key work streams, which include provision of accommodation for international protection seekers and refugee resettlement and other services for international protection applicants. Legacy issues in relation to mother and baby institutions, and birth information and tracing are also funded. In addition, there are allocations towards the areas of equality, integration and inclusion. This includes funding towards gender equality, human rights, LGBTI+ issues, Traveller and Roma issues, migrant integration and disability policy.

In 2021, we again faced the challenge of Covid-19. As with 2020, the last year again saw significant impact from the pandemic on the work of my Department and its agencies. The early learning and care sector, Tusla, youth services, equality and international protection accommodation have been particularly affected. However, it is important that I acknowledge the tremendous efforts which continue to be made across the whole of our sector in response to the pandemic. It has been an extremely challenging time for us all and hopefully 2022 will see us start to normalise life with our focus moving from reactive towards more developmental in nature.

To outline my Department’s Vote in more detail, I have provided the select committee with details of the funding allocations across the different programme areas, along with a summary by subhead, including details of changes over the 2021 figures. In terms of Vote spending, three areas of the Vote represent 89% of the Department’s allocation, namely Tusla, accounting for 43%, early years programmes and schemes, accounting for 34%, and international protection accommodation, accounting for 12% of the overall allocation. I will now briefly address these areas in turn.

My Department’s Estimate includes provision of €898 million for Tusla, an increase of €40.5 million or 5% over the 2021 allocation. This funding will allow Tusla to respond to a number of challenges such as addressing increasing demand for their services and developing their mainstream residential services for children. The budget will allow for the improvement of ICT systems and data management processes, particularly in the aftermath of the HSE cyber attack in May of last year. It will also allow for additional posts to be funded, including 100 front-line staff and 48 residential care workers, and to meet expected demand arising from forthcoming birth information and tracing legislation.

It will allow Tusla to support the community and voluntary sector, which delivers services on its behalf. It will maintain support for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services and address recommendations arising from Tusla’s accommodation review of refuge provision.

Another significant portion of my Department’s spending is on early learning and care, which has an overall allocation of €716 million - a €78 million increase on the 2021 allocation. The funding requirements for this area have been significantly impacted by Covid. Funding in 2022 allows my Department to continue to meet the costs of the two-year early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme and the associated access and inclusion model, AIM, which supports children with additional needs to access the ECCE programme. The allocation for the national childcare scheme, NCS, will meet the costs of delivering the scheme and support the sustainability and operation of the early learning and care, ELC, and school age childcare, SAC, sector. The funding provided in 2022 will also allow for the extension of the age of eligibility to access the NCS universal subsidy to 15 years, and this will be made available to all families.

Funding is also being allocated to introduce a new core funding model from the autumn. Under the new scheme, in return for a commitment that fees to parents will not increase, providers will be supported in meeting their operating costs, including increased costs related to improved quality measures. The funding will support the quality of services by better enabling providers to attract and retain qualified staff and establish career structures. We will introduce or improve other features of provision that contribute to quality, such as non-contact time, planning, training, and curriculum implementation. The additional investment will also support the programme for Government commitment to support the drawing up of an employment regulation order.

The allocation for costs associated with the provision of accommodation for international protection seekers has seen an increase of €41 million to €259 million in 2022. The allocation includes funding towards implementing the recommendations of the White Paper to end direct provision and to establish a new international protection support service. For the first time, this allocation has a capital allocation, amounting to €12.5 million, to progress this key priority.

International protection seekers’ accommodation is a demand-led service with requirements for accommodation and services increasing as numbers of new international protection applications increase. In the latter half of 2021 there has been a sharp increase in the number of new arrivals seeking international protection accommodation in Ireland, with more than 2,260 new arrivals in the period from 1 November 2021 to 30 January 2022. This funding will continue to provide accommodation to those seeking international protection and to cover the projected increase of costs. This estimate is based on the likelihood that there will be pent-up demand for international protection accommodation in 2022, as previously closed off routes reopen. A new procurement competition for accommodation is now under way to reduce reliance on short-term emergency accommodation and to ensure that the Department has sufficient accommodation capacity.

As well as providing for increased demand, I am progressing my pledge to replace the current system with one that respects the dignity of those seeking international protection. I established a transition team in my Department last year to drive the implementation of this new model on a phased basis to 2024. This year, the initial capital allocation of €12.5 million will be used for the acquisition of accommodation with a focus on acquiring turnkey properties and properties that require upgrading or renovations. Current funding will provide for the roll-out of an approved housing body scheme so that they can begin to bring properties on stream and develop a pipeline for accommodation. It will also be used to roll out a rent-a-room scheme and source private tenancies to increase the availability of accommodation. I have a commitment from within the national development plan that as capital requirements in this area increase, additional funding will be provided to progress this important priority action area.

With the rest of the Vote, there are of course other policy areas that will be progressed in 2022. The 2022 Estimates contain provisions to support overall management of the Government’s action plan for responding to the needs of former residents of mother and baby and county home institutions. This includes certain key actions, including at the Tuam site on foot of the proposed certain institutional burials (authorised interventions) legislation, research and commemoration initiatives. My Department is working on information and tracing legislation to allow access to birth information for adopted persons and additional funding has been provided in the Estimates to Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland to support the implementation of this legislation.

The 2022 Estimates will allow me to continue to provide funding in the important areas of equality, disability, inclusion and integration. These are very significant and challenging areas and the Vote includes funding streams for areas such as the National Disability Authority, refugee and migrant integration, gender equality, LGBTI+ and Traveller and Roma initiatives. As I mentioned earlier, these areas are in receipt of additional funding in 2022.

The 2022 Estimates have seen an increase of €3.5 million for youth services to more than €73 million. This level of funding will support the delivery by the voluntary youth work sector of a range of youth work programmes and services for all young people, including those from disadvantaged communities. I believe that the youth sector is essential to reach and address the most marginalised and vulnerable young people.

In conclusion, the significant increase in resources under my Department’s Vote for 2022 allows for the continuation of vital services to some of our most disadvantaged communities while providing for a number of important opportunities for a targeted development and improvement of services. Deputies may be assured that I will continue to work closely with all sectors and stakeholders, as we strive to maximise outcomes from the resources being considered today. I thank the Chair and members for their attention and I will be pleased to respond to questions.