Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Thank you. As regards the use of private providers by Tusla, this happens in the context of foster care, residential care and special emergency arrangements.

The question was posed in terms of cost controls in the private sector. Our objective is to support the public element of provision, whether that is directly through Tusla's social workers, Tusla residential placements or the residential payments placements - those residential spaces run by voluntary organisations. Just before Christmas I met a representative group of about five of the voluntary organisations that provide residential care and we had a useful discussion. We generally say that foster care is best, and I think it is best, but they were articulating the argument that for some children, especially those who are aged 17 or 18, a residential placement can be as strong for them in terms of where they are in their lives and that this aspect is important. While we wish to strengthen the foster side of things, then, it is also important that we have a core of residential beds, be that under the auspices of Tusla or the voluntary sector. This is where our core needs to be. I think that was a very useful discussion.

We have been clear in this regard, certainly, in respect of having allocated a significant increase in investment into Tusla this year compared with 2023. We have also been very clear that looking at its residential capacity is an important part of this endeavour. As the committee will be aware, Tusla has a strategy for residential care. It is part of the three strategies in its alternative care approach. One of the things we have said to the organisation is that we recognise, when it comes to residential care, that a one-size-fits-all approach is not really working because there may be children and young people with significant needs who require additional support. We are very happy for Tusla to make calls if it needs to provide a greater level of support in some of its residential care placements.

Similarly with foster care, we will significantly increase the foster care allowance over the course of this year. As I said, it will grow by €75 and €73 per week for under-12s and over-12s, respectively, by the end of this year. This will make a meaningful difference in terms of supporting all foster carers, especially those who are directly fostering through Tusla. This change comes on top of other more practical supports we are looking at, particularly in terms of the provision of regional therapy groups that can be availed of by children in foster care. This will provide an additional tangible support to parents so that they are not automatically leaning on community disability network teams or primary healthcare teams.

We secured another significant increase of €5 million in the budget for youth services this year. Of the four budgets I have now overseen, this is the third one where we were able to get a €5 million increase. We are putting this into several areas. This year, we are focusing on universal services. In previous years, it has mainly been on the UBU aspect. We are also bringing in the new targeted youth employability scheme, which I think is very good. We know from pilots that this approach has worked well, so this is something we are moving from a pilot to a mainstream provision. This is important because we all recognise that too often we do a pilot and it is evaluated as having done fantastic work but is then never heard of again. We are, though, taking this initiative forward. I was talking to representatives of one of the organisations that had a pilot, which I think was in Cherry Orchard and might have been in the equine centre there, and they were telling me how important it was and how disappointed they were when the money ran out after the pilot programme. It is this sort of scheme we would hope to be able to mainstream going forward.

The point made about salaries is one I hear regularly when I am visiting youth services. There is an uplift in terms of the core funding for services provided for in that €5 million. I am told it is not enough and that those providers would like to see more. I absolutely understand that and that there are pressures there. Again, this sector, like some others, is not directly covered within the public sector pay agreement, unfortunately, but this is the nature of it. Obviously, as we know, as a Government we have been able to do certain bespoke things for groups like community workers and now, more recently, for workers in section 39 and section 56 organisations. This is welcome. I will certainly look to focus in this year and in coming years in terms of how we can raise the core investment in youth services as well, recognising that to do the extra work, we need to keep the fantastic staff we have in youth services.