Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I join in welcoming Ms Gibbons. We are delighted to have her back. I suppose the Minister will anticipate some of the questions I might put forward. The once-off payment per child, provided last year as a measure to address the cost of living, was divided between those over a certain age cohort of those aged over and under 12. It was €325 for a child aged under 12 and €352 for a child aged over 12. The Irish Examinercarried an article in response to that on Saturday, 8 October 2021, by Noel Baker. When he spoke to a foster carer following budget 2022, that person described those receiving the payment as a bit of "a soft touch". This person, who spoke anonymously, also said: "We're like the guards - we can't go on strike". There is something very telling in that statement.

I contend that this is a group of people who are characteristically, in terms of what it is that they do, inherently good. In many cases, many foster carers would have, and I do not want to use the word "sacrificed", maybe let go of other opportunities out of commitment to the work they do as foster parents. It is on this basis that I wish to interrogate further the issues of pension rights and budget 2024. I feel that perhaps not enough was done to argue in this regard. None of this is a personal criticism, let me be very clear about this, but I wonder could more have been done to get that weekly allowance increased when the Minister and his colleagues were negotiating with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in respect of doing more than just having a once-off payment for the cost-of-living allowance. Could more have been done in budget 2022 to facilitate or bake in an increase per child?

If the answer to that is that you "did all you could do" which I anticipate might be the response, can this committee receive some assurances that the outlook for foster carers in 2024 will be different and much better? That might give the sector some grounds for hope in regard to the remuneration or allowance received. That is the first point.

On the issue of travelling costs and mileage, and I know what the Minister says in regard to that being a significant issue for families, can we see some outworking of that in terms of what it means in practical terms, such as what mileage rate the Minister anticipates he will allocate to foster carers? Has some discussion taken place around that in brass tacks, pounds, shillings and pence, or euro?

Finally, on the issue of recruitment, it seems to me that there are many financial barriers now. The financial commitment or the lack of a proper remuneration or stipend must have, by the Minister’s calculations or those of his officials, a dampening effect on the recruitment of potentially very good foster parents into the sector.