Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I was interested to hear Tusla speak about providing the full allowance to somebody who might be in a slightly more chaotic position. I contrast that with Wales, which has begun a trial or pilot for a universal basic income for all care leavers, regardless of their situation. There can be high-quality aftercare supports if a young person is leaving care in education and training. It is often those who are the most vulnerable and the most needy who struggle either to get into or maintain a place or who just are not ready for education, but given the way things are set up, they are often ones not getting as high a level of service. The Welsh experiment is an interesting one we should be looking at here. I appreciate the challenges of some of that.

I am glad to hear Tusla say, and I echo what Senator Ruane said, that it has to be asked how many 26-, 27-, 28- or 29-year-olds in the general population are still at home and still getting support from their parents. In a situation where the State, through Tusla, is the corporate parent, we should be looking at not just the challenges presenting in terms of housing supply but at extending that upper age limit for aftercare generally. I appreciate that may not be entirely in Tusla’s gift and we should be talking to the Minister about that, but certainly, based on the witnesses' comments, it sounds as though Tusla is supportive of that. For me, the challenge is what more we can do for those young people who are struggling, who are perhaps more chaotic or who have had a more difficult journey through care and are struggling to engage with aftercare. There are many sources looking at that.

One of the other issues I would look at is in terms of performance. I know I have spoken before about demand, anticipation and workforce planning, and I underline the need for that, because if we can do that and publish it, it will give us a yardstick against which to measure our performance and it can be very useful. It also, in terms of recruitment, puts it up to the Minister and to the universities about whether we are delivering enough trained social workers. One of the questions, and I do not know whether the witnesses can shed any light on this, is whether we are training enough social workers. If we are not, then why not? Is it because of a lack of demand or a lack of places? Where is the bottleneck there?

I have spoken quite a lot about foster care. We had a positive engagement with some stakeholders, and I am sure the representatives from Tusla were watching, who all clearly identified the need to do more. The strategy the Tusla representatives spoke about is welcome but there were other things identified that could be done. Outside of the strategy and in response to that session, what will Tusla be taking on board and committing to deliver in the coming years?