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

There is so much we could talk about as this is a very big area. We could probably give a full week of sessions to it. I am not sure the committee secretariat would be very happy with me suggesting this but we could give it a lot of time. We should set the stage with some important context. Referrals to Tusla have increased by 14% from this time last year and it is estimated the increase will be approximately 20% by the end of the year. We are not even speaking about why this is or trying to dig into it. That could take a whole session in and of itself.

Increasing complexity has been mentioned. This is increased again by unmet needs for disability, which is something the committee has spent a lot of time discussing. There is the fact that CAMHS and children's disability network teams, CDNTs, refuse to meet children who have trauma or behavioural issues and simply dismiss these as "behaviour". There is a cohort of young people who are not getting any support whatsoever. It is important to speak about the Child Care Act review and the upcoming legislation. The committee has drafted a prelegislative scrutiny report. Many of these issues dovetail with those important reforms. I trust the Minister is reading the prelegislative scrutiny report diligently.

I am sketching out issues I had wanted to speak about and I hope we will have a second round so that I can raise them. These include increasing referrals, workforce planning, links with the Garda and the structures of these and in-house therapeutic supports. If every child is getting an assessment will there be enough resources to provide therapy afterwards or will they get an assessment without any follow-up? I ask this given that CAMHS is a problem.

What I want to speak about mostly is the issue of alternative care. Alternative care is in a very rocky place and we have all admitted this and said it. Alongside Judge Simms's letter, which was mentioned, we have seen reports from the Child Law Project. Groups such as Empowering People in Care, EPIC, have been making comments and statements and providing analysis. There is an increasing number of special placements and a reducing number of foster carers. There is a broader placement issue in terms of special care. I have spoken to Ms Murphy about this previously.

I will eventually come to questions; I promise that. Something I am struck by is that many of these issues are not something Tusla can solve on its own. Many of the issues I have spoken about overlap with the HSE, the Department of Justice and the Department of Health. There is a need for a national strategy and a cross-departmental strategy. We need interdepartmental help. Many issues that foster carers have are a responsibility of the Department of Social Protection with regard to pensions. If we are to try to salvage alternative care and bring it back from the dangerous brink to which I believe it is heading we need to look at this.

The point needs to be made that when we rely on emergency services and private services they ultimately cost a lot more money. There is an issue of cost effectiveness. I have spoken to social workers signing bills for special emergency placement that are €30,000 or €40,000 a week. The sum of €40,000 could hire another access worker to improve access and the relationship between a child in care and a parent. It would have all sorts of knock-on consequences. It would relieve pressure on social workers so they can get the paperwork done. It is draining Tusla's own resources.

I am conscious that when the committee was speaking about foster care the Irish Association of Social Workers was speaking about the need for a foster care working group to look at it and really understand the problems. For me it is not just about foster care. Foster care is one part of the broader placement problems and the broad problems in alternative care. How is the interdepartmental piece working? Are other Departments playing their role? Tusla cannot solve this alone. I ask the Minister whether other Departments are playing their role. I ask the CEO whether other agencies are playing their role. Are they doing enough? If not, we need to start bringing them together. We need an interdepartmental working group, as was suggested, for foster care but with a much broader remit. Is this something the Minister would consider? It is fundamental and important so that we can dig into the needs of alternative care.

A Tusla strategy of last year spoke about the need to increase Tusla's own capacity. I do not know when Tusla last opened its own unit. We could look into the regulation and inspection of units but we do not have time.

Tulsa wanted to achieve 50:50 public private provision. How is that going and what has been done on it? How is it progressing? What are the roadblocks to it? I believe Tusla offers a significantly more cost-effective approach to things.

Deputy Murnane O'Connor raised a question around funding of supports for victims in relation to St. John Ambulance that was not answered. Can we get an answer to that question?

When we spoke about this before, we spoke about this issue of supports for parents whose children are taken into care. There is an acknowledgement that these things are important but then it is framed as, "The Children's Rights Alliance is running a pilot on that" or "One in Four is providing that service". If it is not necessarily a direct service of Tusla's to deliver, then there is an issue for the State there. I look at the Department of Justice-----