Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations and information. I have a fair few questions that I will try to get in. I know we have a limited amount of time, but we might get back in for a second round. I will list the questions first and let the witnesses come back in.

In his opening statement, the Minister mentioned that increasing referrals to Tusla can be considered in part due to some changes in the reporting system. Will he clarify what those changes are? Regarding the special emergency arrangements, SEAs, and insufficient placements, the Minister mentioned in his presentation that children entering care are of increasing complexity. I can see from the contribution that due regard is given to international protection and unaccompanied minors, UAMs, but there is very little about homelessness and poverty with regard to those complexities. What are the Minister's thoughts on the intersectionality of those who end up in care?

In his statement, the Minister mentioned a meeting with the UCD sexual exploitation research programme to discuss the report and its findings. Could we get any insight into the outcome of that meeting? What actions have been taken regarding child sexual exploitation since the Minister last addressed the committee in July? Has any additional funding been allocated, etc.?

In 2022, HIQA noted that 28%, or 6,113 active cases, were awaiting allocation to a social worker and that 6% of these children were deemed high-priority. Will Ms Duggan provide an update regarding figures for unallocated cases and which cases out of these are considered high priority? Will she outline the criteria for designating a case as high priority?

The 2022 HIQA report also seems to indicate that services provided to those on the child protection notification database, CPND, were more effective. Given the process of listing a child on this database, is it less likely that certain children and young people would be on it given who must be involved in those CPND meetings in terms of stakeholders and parents?

Ms Duggan stated that a small number of children are in special emergency arrangements. Will she provide us with an exact figure on this and tell us how many are in hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation since she last appeared before this committee? Has anything changed with regard to their supervision?

Regarding special emergency arrangements, what alternatives are being considered? At the last meeting, Ms Duggan mentioned potentially using third-party providers or organisations to provide residential care.

Is there an update on that? Who would those providers be?

I have one more question. With regard to children in care with additional needs, what actions are Tusla and the HSE taking, especially in respect of the joint protocol that is yet to be published? Maybe there is a publication date for that that we could be made aware of.