Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)

Some of the outreach is around information meetings. There has been a significant number of those meetings in person and online conducted by Tusla. An initial foster care placement payment has been introduced, which is an extra week's payment, for those who might be coming into the system for the first time.

A new peer support pilot programme is also being provided to support new people coming into the system. There has also been a revised mileage payment scheme, which has been advocated for for some time.

Importantly with respect to foster care, a strategic lead has been employed by Tusla to promote foster care and give it particularly priority within its Department. I earlier referenced fostering awareness month. Some 130 information sessions, online and in-person, were provided by Tusla. An information hub is now available for foster carers. As I said, we gave further commitment in the programme for Government to increased foster care allowances, in addition to the 21% that was provided for in the previous budget.