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

We are here until 6 p.m. One of the issues with recruitment is trying to get potential carers through the foster care committee. One of the things we spoke about at the foster care hearing was with regard to private arrangements and these sorts of things. They sometimes come up because a child can be in a good enough place but we know the person will not pass the committee. Are the committee or Tusla's internal politics becoming roadblocks to recruitment? We might look at, for example, how some foster care committees place great weight on a potential carer's body mass index, BMI, as part of the assessment, and really spend much time thinking, talking about and considering the foster carer's BMI whereas other committees do not.

I am not sure BMI is a reflection of the ability to parent; I certainly hope not.

My other point concerns the policy on needing two parents. One must be at home and two cannot be working. Given the wider demographic changes impacting recruitment, should we be trying to be more flexible in this regard?

Why are things more complex? What is going on both inside and outside? What is the position on consistency across foster care committees? Have internal policy roadblocks to recruitment been identified?