Ms Kate Duggan:

I will start and then ask colleagues to come in with anything additional. First, the Deputy might underestimate what it means to our staff to get public acknowledgement of the good work they do every day. In the context of trying to increase staff morale, it is very difficult for staff when they read the worst of the headlines in the newspapers or when their work is underestimated or not valued. People should challenge or call us out when we get things wrong and hold us to account, but recognition of the work done on the front line every day is hugely important for us. That would be the first thing I would ask of the committee.

The second ask relates to the fact that it is a demand-led service. When a child protection referral is made, that will maybe involve gardaí being sent out during the night to attend a domestic violence incident or a public health nurse meeting a parent in the throes of addiction in circumstances where children were at risk. These referrals that have to be responded to. We have to be held to account in the context that we do the best we can with every euro of public funding we receive, that we make sure there is value for money and that we are not wasting money and that we have tight controls over our spending. In a demand-led service, however, we know that as demand increases, additional investment is needed.

I referenced the third ask in my opening statement. The review of the Child Care Act is very important to us, particularly in the context of the statutory duty for interagency co-operation. We have seen changes and improvements in the work we do with our colleagues in the Garda and the HSE, in the relationships that have been built at local level and in the work of CYPSCs, but interagency being placed on a statutory basis and getting the review of the Child Care Act completed are significant for us. The reform of the guardian ad litem service and putting the service on a statutory footing are significant. That office has been established. We absolutely advocate for the voice of a child to be heard at every level of our service, through participatory models in Tusla, through the funding we give to EPIC in the context of empowering children in care and having advocacy services for them. We advocate for the voice of the child in court and the regulation of the service. There are some astronomical costs associated with the service and the legal costs associated with it, so we welcome that. The programme for Government contains a commitment to a whole-of-government approach to alternative care. When a child comes into the care of the State, they are in the care of the State. While we are not looking in any way to underestimate our responsibility as a statutory agency to protect and provide care and support for that child, we do need the support of other Government agencies and Departments, whether that is in the areas of education, housing or social protection or health.